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Jonah Kapena (died March 12, 1868), also spelled Iona Kapena, was a royal advisor and statesman in the Kingdom of Hawaii who helped draft the 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii. In addition to his legislative career as a member of the House of Nobles, he also served as a judge and became an associate justice of Hawaii's first Supreme Court. ==Biography== Nothing is known of Kapena's early life except that he was born into a family from the lesser strata of Hawaiian nobility, subordinate to the high chiefs or ''aliʻi nui''. In 1831, he became a member of the first class of the Lahainaluna Seminary under the school's first principal American missionary Lorrin Andrews. His classmates included historian David Malo, Boaz Mahune, and Timothy Haʻalilio. After four years he graduated in 1835. Typically, many graduates sought political positions or became advisors in the court of King Kamehameha III. Kapena became the secretary and advisor to Kīnaʻu, the Kuhina Nui, and represented her in the drafting of Hawaii's first constitution and declaration of rights. Kapena, along with Boaz Mahune, assisted American missionary William Richards in the endeavor. Although his classmate Mahune was credited with drafting the Declaration of Rights of 1839, recent discoveries have cast doubt upon the actual authorship of the Declaration and the majority of the 1840 Constitution. Hawaiian historian Jon Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio believes that it was Richards, who was mainly responsible for creating these documents and that Mahune and Kapena were only assistants. Kapena served as a clerk in the 1841 session of the Legislature of Hawaii at Lahaina, the capital at the time; it was the first time that the King and his nobles had met as a governing body since the ratification of the Constitution in 1840. In 1843, he and George Luther Kapeau served as clerks to the legislature and then Kapena shared the position with William Richards in the 1845 session. In 1845, Kapena was also finally appointed an official member of the House of Nobles. In order to replace the diminishing number of aliʻi nui, it was decided on April 2, 1845, to vote lower ranking chiefs who were "men of learning" into the council and elevate their chiefly statuses. Kapena was among the first group of six lesser chiefs chosen. As a member of the House of Nobles, Kapena would go on to serve in the legislative sessions of 1850, 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854, 1862, 1864, and 1866. He also served as an one of the first four assistant judges or justices of the Supreme Court of Hawaii in 1842 with Kamehameha III as the Chief Justice. Judge Kapena was also later appointed Circuit Judge for Oahu, succeeding his brother-in-law Joshua Kekaulahao. It was said that in this office he "gave satisfaction to all."〔 In his long political career, Kapena served under the reigns of three monarchs: Kamehameha III, Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V. He also wrote in one of the kingdom's first Hawaiian language newspapers the ''Ka Nonanona'' (1841–1845). He later became the editor of the important paper, ''Ke Au Okoa'' (1865–1873). In 1870, his hānai son John Makini Kapena became its editor until it merged with ''Ka Nupepa Kuokoa'', and became ''Ka Nupepa Kuokoa Me Ke Au Okoa I Huiia'' in 1873. Kapena married Kahilipulu on September 2, 1846 in Honolulu, Oʻahu. Kapena was also married to a sister of Joshua Kekaulahao. She died before 1858. Kapena led the procession at the funeral of all six of her family members including her two brothers, nephew, cousin and father. It is not known if these two were the same person. Beyond that nothing is known about Kapena's wives. In the Hawaiian tradition of ''hānai'', he adopted his nephew John Makini Kapena (1843–1887), the only son of Makini and Naʻawa, a relative of Kalakaua. John Makini Kapena went on to become an important government minister under the reign of King Kalākaua. His hānai son also married Emma Aʻalailoa Malo (1846–1886), the only daughter of David Malo, Kapena's Lahainaluna classmate. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jonah Kapena」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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