Wooden Poi Bowl
date: label: Accession Date
content: 14 Jan 1947
name: label: Donor Name
content: Princess Abigail W. Kawananakoa
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Height 15 1/4"; diam. at rim 22 1/2"; greatest circumference 83-3/4"; thickness at rim 5/16". Umeke or poi bowl of kou wood (cordia subcordia). Exterior highly polished. Knot holes have been repaired with small pieces of wood carefully fitted together. Note: Specimen is described in Princess Kawananakoa's Will as "A large round kou calabash, belonging to King Kalakaua." King Kalakaua, 7th King of Hawaii, died in San Francisco Jan. 29, 1891."
label: Notes
content: Object was on display in National Museum of Natural History exhibit "Na Mea Makamae o Hawai'i - Hawaiian Treasures", 2004-2005.
label: Notes
content: 'Umeke kou kū'oho - Bowl ('umeke) made of kou wood (Cordia subcordia) carved nearly equal in width and height (kū'oho). Kou is a tree indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands and was the favored wood for making 'umeke as it is soft and easy to carve, resistant to wood-boring insects, and does not impart a bitter flavor. Once abundant in coastal and dry lowland regions, kou was nearly extirpated in the late 19th century by the kou leafworm (Ethmia nigroapicella).
label: Record Last Modified
content: 21 Apr 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Hawaii (Hawaiʻi), United States, Polynesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Hawaiian (Kanaka ʻŌiwi, Kanaka Maoli)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 170851
label: USNM Number
content: E384233-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bowl