100 Years of the Personal Touch
Sterling Kaya
B y Bri a n F u n a i
Raine Nitta and Maurice Kaya
ot many establishments can say they’ve been in business for one hundred years, much less ten, but K. Kaya Fishing Supply, Inc. hit the century mark in their usual low key manner. Owner Maurice Kaya and trusted right-handman Raine Nitta celebrated the the businesses 100th anniversary in serving Hawaii’s fishing community through the store, located at 901 Kekaulike Street in downtown Honolulu. It is a noteworthy achievement that any line of business would be proud to speak of in today’s economic climate. K. Kaya Fishing Supply, Inc. was opened not long after the turn of the 20th century by Kaichi Kaya, an immigrant who arrived in June of 1899 from Yamaguchi perfecture, Japan. The store is run today by Maurice, the third generation of the family and Kaichi’s grandson. Maurice says the official opening date of the store is kept as 1911 since his father’s birth certificate lists the birth location as the store during that year. Maurice was told, however, that his grandfather began his business even earlier, selling general merchandise along the waterfront out of a pushcart. Kaichi also peddled “shave ice” and was one of the earliest here to use the Japanese hand tool specifically designed to create the 32
Lawai‘a Magazine
now familiar island treat. Eventually, he narrowed his goods to focus on the fishing community and established his business a few steps away from Honolulu Harbor. K. Kaya Fishing Supply, Inc. started out selling provisions for the booming commercial fishing industry but by the 1920s, it was already supporting the growing recreational fishing community. Fishing tournaments for regular customers were even held by the store. For one event which took place out at remote Kaena Point, participants were transported to the contest site via a chartered OR&L passenger train. By the late 1920’s, Kaichi had become one of the founding members of the Honolulu Japanese Casting Club, Hawaii’s earliest shorecasting club. A November 5, 1931 Star Bulletin article notes that the warning markers eventually put up around the island of Oahu by this club were to be donated by Kaichi and the store. Prior to moving in 1961 to its present location, now a landmark on the corner of Kekaulike and Nimitz Highway, the store was originally located at 116 N. Queen Street. Before the construction of Nimitz highway and when Queen Street ran down past what is now Aala Park, the location of the store’s first 50 years was the empty lot behind the present store.