By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

It's a powerful thing when a young woman finds her voice.

It's even more powerful when her voice speaks for those who feel they are never heard.

Twenty-two-year-old Ronda Mapuana Hayashi didn't set out to tell anybody's story but her own. But her swift, cutting words and the raw, emotional imagery she creates have left local audiences shaken and breathless and moved.

She speaks of broken promises, dead ends and betrayal; but within her words are the seeds of hope and the search for simple dignity.

"I'm a spoken-word artist and I don't limit myself," she says. "That's lyrics and music, that's rap and hip-hop, that's Hawaiian chanting."

Her artistry is rooted in her ability from a very early age to speak in verse and to articulate in hard, clear words the truths of the world as she sees it.

"My mother noticed I would speak in poetry when I was, like, 4 or 5," she says. "I think there's no greater force in the world than the power of the word."

She goes by the name "Katana," the name of a Japanese sword. She has studied martial arts for much of her life, and that has influenced her approach to performing.

"I know my tongue can be a weapon, and in the hip-hop culture, there are battles that occur between artists, so it was my way of saying, 'If you step in front of me, I will cut you lyrically,' but it was also my way of saying I'd rather be on a higher level. I'd rather be the wise spirit that's within the katana that guides the warrior."

That wise spirit guided her through what she calls "some hard times," including the loss of family members and a relationship with an abusive man. Her mother shakes her head when she talks about that and says, "She wrote about that guy for a whole year after it was over."

"I've come to realize even when I'm writing about negative things, that it's all very positive in a way," says Katana. "It's healing for me and I hope that it can be healing for somebody else."

Like this sample from her guest spot on an upcoming CD by the group BET:

Some brothers tearing sisters down like they can't stand 'em when they need 'em. Love 'em and leave 'em. Titas stand by his every word and believe him when he say "I'll be there to stay." That was several months ago, now a baby on the way. To a life of hardships, hard times, single mother on welfare can't stop the tears in her eyes from the stress. Papa rode out to the next conquest ...

Much of her work is at open mics and underground parties, but if you want to catch Katana at a scheduled event, she'll be performing at an event called Poetry to da Max on Aug. 3 at 7:30 p.m. at UH-Manoa's Center for Hawaiian Studies. The event is being presented by Hybolics magazine and is free.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.