LIHUE, Hawaii — Kauai Community College announced the opening of the new Kikuchi Center, which honors the late archaeologist and professor William “Pila” Kikuchi, who studied fishponds. It is located in the college’s Learning Resource Center.  

What You Need To Know

  • The opening event is an artist showcase, featuring Carol Araki Wyban, who will present her paintings and book “Tide and Current: Fishponds of Hawaii,” at 4 p.m. on Sept. 19

  • Wyban’s artwork is inspired by Kikuchi’s legacy and will now be part of the Kikuchi Center’s permanent collection

  • At the opening, the Kikuchi Center will also showcase efforts to preserve the legacy of Kikuchi’s work with fishponds

  • Since 2022, Kauai CC Archivist Jason Ford has been digitizing Kikuchi's “Archeology on Kauai” newsletter, his fishpond notes, his collection of postcards, and more. The Kikuchi Collection is now partially available online

The opening event is also an artist showcase, featuring Carol Araki Wyban, who will present her paintings and book “Tide and Current: Fishponds of Hawaii,” at 4 p.m. on Sept. 19. 

Wyban’s artwork is inspired by Kikuchi’s legacy and will now be part of the Kikuchi Center’s permanent collection. Since 1981, she has worked at maintaining and reviving ancient fishponds across the state, using Kikuchi’s research as a guide. Her paintings present various types of ponds, their technologies, and legends associated with them.  

“Fishponds are a window into ancient Hawaii and how the Hawaiians developed the land and water in a conscious, sustainable manner,” Wyban said in a statement. “They are a resource for the future because they can still be revived and used for food production, education and to teach people the importance of working with nature.”

Kaloko Fishpond in 1995 before the wall was restored (Photo courtesy of the University of Hawaii)
Kaloko Fishpond in 1995 before the wall was restored (Photo courtesy of the University of Hawaii)

At the opening, the Kikuchi Center will also showcase efforts to preserve the legacy of Kikuchi’s work with fishponds. 

Since 2022, Kauai CC Archivist Jason Ford has been digitizing Kikuchi's “Archeology on Kauai” newsletter, his fishpond notes, his collection of postcards, and more. The Kikuchi Collection is now partially available online. 

“With the Kikuchi Collection containing a variety of multimedia materials, there remains a lot of items to be digitized for inclusion in the online repository,” Ford said in a statement. 

Kikuchi Center's archives at Kauai CC (Photo courtesy of the University of Hawaii)
Kikuchi Center's archives at Kauai CC (Photo courtesy of the University of Hawaii)

More than 550 books and personal field journals are part of the collection. 

“We have made great progress in getting some of Kikuchi’s famous and lesser known research online, thus making the online repository available to the public sooner rather than later,” said Ford. “I know the community has been waiting on the repository, in some cases for decades, and so we are excited to be able to offer this now at this time.”

Ford prioritized digitizing materials that will be beneficial to local and Pacific Region researchers, along with materials with digital display quality.