Ku is one of the four great akua of the Hawaiian tradition, the god of war, fishing and canoe building, and he has many named forms, among them Kukailimoku and Ku-ka-ohia-Laka. He is a major figure in the Kumulipo, and he was the patron of Kamehameha I, whose war temple received human sacrifice in the pre-Christian period. The ki'i images are his, and the fishing and the canoe are as much his as the war. The 1819 'Ai Noa ended the kapu system and the old cult, and the modern revival is the tradition's own.
Modern Practice
Ku is honoured at the heiau and at the canoe, with fish, kava and red cloth, and his practice is the disciplined work of war, fishing and building. The ki'i is carved and dressed, not bought as decor. Human sacrifice is history and is not practice.