Today, there is a dedicated group working with Akiko Masuda of the Wailea Village Historic Preservation Community that cleans 3 cemeteries each month to honor the ancestors. One of the members shared the quote below from the short story "From Dreams to Ashes" from the collection “The Sound of Hilo Rain,” by Hilo writer & attorney, Roy Kodani:
In many isolated areas of the country, far removed from the towns and urban areas of Hawaii, there are graveyards of immigrants buried years ago. Their headstones have fallen and no one comes to place flowers on their graves. They had probably worked hard intending to return to their mother country, but for one reason or another, they could not return, and now, they remain in desolate, lonely places long forgotten. The trade winds crossing the land like ancient spirits floating by whisper their names as you pass.
Within the Hakalau Kuleana, there were at least five cemeteries. Hakalau Lower Camp included 3 cemeteries: Korean, Japanese, and Catholic. According to "Voice of Hakalau", there was also a cemetery at Kamae Mauka, although it does not show up on a map. Honohina Cemetery, on Liliuokalani Trust lands, still exists.
Three Cemeteries in Hakalau Lower Camp
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Hand-drawn map of Hakalau Lower Camp, known as "Down Camp" with annotations showing the cemeteries. Maps were drawn for the Hakalau Plantation in 1947 for each camp in existence at that time.
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Korean Cemetery
The former Korean Cemetery (also known as the Japanese and Korean Cemetery) is located at Hakalau Point, behind what was formerly the stables. According to an archaeological inventory survey (Rosendahl, Inc. 2009), the graves were disinterred. It was noted that grave markers were buried on site and that the burials were removed using a backhoe, indicating the likely presence of grave markers and disturbed human skeletal remains at the site (DLNR Log 2013.6237, Doc 1312TD01).
The Japanese/Korean Cemetery is deemed significant under Historic Preservation Criteria D possibly E.
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1928 aerial of Hakalau Point and Hakalau Upper Camp, courtesy of the Lyman Museum.
1935 aerial photo of Hakalau Down Camp showing the Korean Cemetery behind the mule stables on Hakalau Point. Photo from Hawaii State Archives PP-28-007, Pan Pacific Press Bureau.
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The photo to the right, when enlarged, is too pixilated to provide a very clear name or date, but an archaeologist at a university in Korea, working with Seri Luangplinith, Ph.D. of UH Hilo, think it is of a woman, a second daughter, from Gyeongsang Province in Korea.
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Photo courtesy of Department of Land and Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Division, from Data Recovery Plan for Site 50-10-16-26592, p. 18, June, 2014.
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Japanese Cemetery
This cemetery was located on a point directly behind the hospital in Hakalau Lower Camp. It was known as the Japanese Cemetery. Waichi Ouye reported that the cemetery held mostly Japanese and a few Korean immigrants who worked at the mill (Haun and Associates, 2014). While the cemetery was based on ethnicity and not religious affiliation, many of the Japanese immigrants to Hakalau Plantation were Pure Land Buddhists with rich ceremonial traditions for funerals and honoring the dead. The cemetery contained 202 graves and was maintained by the Hakalau Jodo Mission. The earliest graves here were probably late 19th/early 20th century and the latest graves are probably the mid to late 1930's. A 1966 Department of Health survey reported that Rev. Bino Mamiya, acting as an interested party for the community, collected money to keep the cemetery clean. Tetsuo Yugawa cleaned the cemetery on a regular basis. In the early 1970's, probably early 1974 (see notice to the right) the remains were removed to Homelani Memorial Park at the request of the local kumiai, which also paid for the relocation of remains. Data Sources: a) Archaeological Inventory Survey #2083169, April, 2014, Department of Land and Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Division and b) PHRI letter report #2174-090101 to John Cross, Mauna Kea Agribusiness, Inc., September, 2001. |
Japanese cemetery, Hakalau Lower Camp.
Photo courtesy of Department of Land and Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Division, from Archaeological Inventory Survey #2083169, p. 15, April, 2014
Accessed via Newspapers.com
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Catholic Cemetery
This cemetery was an informal plantation cemetery. It was neither owned nor operated by the Catholic Church but was likely associated with the Wailea Church and the Hakalau Filipino Catholic Club. There may have been between 200 and 250 Filipinos, Portuguese, and Puerto Ricans buried there. These were probably plantation workers and members of their families. Deceased were interred at the Catholic Cemetery during the first half of the 20th century. Some of the remains might have been moved to another location by family members. Most of the grave markers were made of wood, though a few inscribed stone monuments were used. The wooden grave markers are not longer present at the cemetery. Given the age of the cemetery, it likely qualifies as an Historic Property under state rules. Data Source: A Data Recovery Plan for Site 50-10-16-26592, Scientific Consultant Services, June 2014. |
Site plan for TMK 3-2-9-002-088-0000 showing easement for both the cemetery and the footpath leading to the cemetery. Site plan courtesy of the Edmund Olson Trust Archive.
Click on map to enlarge.
Catholic Cemetery outlined in red. Photo courtesy of Cal Motoda, taken in 1972.
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Kamaee Mauka Cemetery
This cemetery is not shown on the plantation map from 1947 or on the field map, which has been annotated to show the location of the camp. 
Courtesy of the Edmund Olson Trust.
Click on map to enlarge.
Courtesy of the Edmund Olson Trust.
Click on map to enlarge.
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Voice of Hakalau, November, 1960, p. 4
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Honohina CemeteryHonohina Cemetery was established in the early 1900s to serve the Japanese community in Honohina. This cemetery is not shown on the plantation maps from 1947, but annotations in red have been added below.
Because Honohina was occupied by mostly sugar workers, the town disappeared with the demise of the sugar industry in that area in the 1970s. The Honohina Hongwanji located on a hill above the cemetery was relocated to the nearby town of Ninole, from where it administers and maintains the cemetery today. 
1947 Plantation map of Honohina Upper Village Camp, with annotations showing the relationship of the Hongwanji to the Cemetery.
Annotated Google Earth view of Honohina Cemetery.
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Photos provided by Susan Forbes.
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Piha Cemetery
The pictures below are from a forgotten cemetery just a little bit down towards Honokaa after you pass Nanue Bridge in Ninole. There’s a huge avocado tree on the makai side of the road near the entrance.
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Photos and translation courtesy of Seri Luanphinith, Ph.D.
TMK and Plat Maps available at https://www.hawaiicounty.gov/departments/planning/tmk-maps
Click on map to enlarge
Contact us if you know of other cemeteries between the Kolekole River and Poupou Stream.