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'Kahuna' is a Hawaiian word, defined in the Pukui & Elbert Dictionary as "Priest, sorcerer, magician, wizard, minister, expert in any profession." (See ancient Hawai'i)
40 different types of kahuna are listed in the book, ''Tales from the Night Rainbow.'' Kamakau lists more than 20 in the healing professions alone. Kahuna la'au lapa'au was an expert in healing, kalai wa'a an expert canoe maker, ho'okele an expert navigator.
Many myths have grown up around kahuna. One is that kahuna were outlawed after the white man came to Hawai'i. Although it is true that at various times specific kahuna practices were made illegal, including healing people through "superstitious means," for the most part, most kahuna practices remained legal. (Chai) However, during the decline of native Hawaiian culture many kahuna died out and did not pass on their wisdom to new students. As an example, when the Hokule'a was built to be sailed to the South Pacific to prove the voyaging capabilities of the ancient Hawaiians, master navigator Mau Piailug from Satawal was brought to Hawai'i to teach the Hawaiians navigation, as no Hawaiians could be found who still had this knowledge.
With the revival of the Hawaiian culture beginning in the 1970s, some Hawaiians call themselves kahuna today.
In an episode of the American TV show "Magnum P.I.", it is said that a Kahuna can be identified by a "red flash" in his eyes.
The word has been given an esoteric or secret meaning by modern followers of Max Freedom Long and Huna.

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Non-Hawaiian uses

Sources

Non-Hawaiian uses

The use of the term in reference to surfing can be traced back to the film Gidget (1959), in which 'The Big Kahuna', played by Cliff Robertson, was the leader of a group of surfers. The term then became commonplace in Beach Party films of the 1960s such as ''Beach Blanket Bingo'', where the "Big Kahuna" was the best surfer on the beach. Eventually, it was adopted into general surfing culture. Hawaiian surfing master Duke Kahanamoku may have been referred to as the "Big Kahuna" but rejected the term as he knew the true meaning of the word.(Hall)

★ Kahuna or Ka Huna massage is a rhythmical style of massage.

★ In some computer programming shops (for example, IBM), "kahuna" is a synonym for "wizard" or "guru" (see internet slang).

★ Kahuna is also the code-name for Windows Live Mail, the successor to Microsoft's MSN Hotmail.

★ "The Big Kahuna" is the nickname for Major League Baseball Broadcaster Jon Miller.

★ "Kahuna" also refers to a very large fish, usually a walleye or Bass so named by Lake Erie fishermen in the late 1970s.

★ "The Big Kahuna" is the name of a burger-joint in Quentin Tarantino's 2nd film, ''Pulp Fiction''. It is also seen in the Robert Rodriguez movie From Dusk Till Dawn (for which Tarantino wrote the Screenplay) and mentioned in the Tarantino-directed Death Proof.

★ "Kahuna Airlines" is the name of an airline company in Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland.

★ "Kahuna" a gaia class on the MMORPG Rappelz, can be seen as a buffer for other players.

★ Kahuna is the main character in the game SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs.

★ To have "Big Kahunas" - Aussie Slang - A person who is known to be brave, and without fear. Possibly derived from Spanish cojones.

★ Title of some of the worlds largest, most fattest men

Sources

★ Pukui & Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian; by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert ; Publisher: University of Hawaii Press; (July 1986); ISBN 0824807030

★ Lee, Pali Jae '' Tales from the Night Rainbow'' [1]

★ The Kahuna: Versatile Masters of Old Hawai‘i von Likeke R. McBride, ISBN 091218051X

★ Gutmanis, Jane: Kahuna La'au Lapa'au - Hawaiian Herbal Medicine [Medical Kahuna], Island Heritage (www.islandheritage.com), 1976, English, ISBN 0-89610-330-7

★ Nana I Ke Kumu (Look to the source), by Mary K. Pukui, E. W. Haertig, Catharine A. Lee; # Publisher: Hui Hanai; (May 1, 1980); ISBN 0961673826

★ Malo, David: Hawaiian Antiquities (Mo'olelo Hawai'i), Bishop Museum Press, 1951 (1903)

★ Kamakau, Samuel ''Tales & Traditions of the People of Old'' [2]

★ Kupihea, Moke: Kahuna of Light -The World of Hawaiian Spirituality, 2001, Inner Traditions International, ISBN 0-89281-756-9

★ Chai, Makana Risser ''Na Mo'olelo Lomilomi: Traditions of Hawaiian Massage & Healing'' [3]

★ Kahalewai, Nancy S. Hawaiian Lomilomi - Big Island Massage, ISBN 0967725305

★ Hall, Sandra ''Duke: A Great Hawaiian''[4]