Posted on: Tuesday, October 8, 2002

Paniolo fest celebrates 200-year-old tradition

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

Kahalu'u — Modern equipment and time management are changing the face of ranching in the Islands and endangering the 200-year-old tradition of the paniolo.

But the old ways of Hawai'i's cowboys have been captured in image and story in the O'ahu Cattlemen's Association Paniolo Hall of Fame that will be on display Saturday during a Paniolo Festival beginning at 9 a.m. at Kualoa Ranch.

The free, day-long event includes ranching activities such as herding cattle, roping and paint branding.

The festival will honor 17 longtime cowboys by inducting them into the hall of fame, where they will take their place among 38 other paniolo, all selected by their peers.

"It's people you'd never meet or never know about because they live low-profile lives," said Paula Loomis, a member of the planning committee. "They're not the typical larger-than-life heroes. These are guys who lived in fascinating times who did something unique."

Harold L. Amoral, 81, is one of them. Born in 1921 and a paniolo for 43 years before his retirement, Amoral followed in his father's footsteps like so many other ranch hands. He worked at Haleakala Ranch on Maui and remembers that in his youth everything on the ranch was done the hard way.

Edward T. Silva, 72, of Ka'ala Ranch on O'ahu, worked for more than 20 years on Dillingham Ranch before striking out on his own. Today his children help out on the ranch but make a living at other jobs. Money was never the goal in ranching, Silva said — maintaining a way of life was.

"Money wasn't there, but good fun was there," he said.

There is also Jiro Yamaguchi, who worked on Parker Ranch on the Big Island. At age 6, he began learning about ranching from his father, Matsuichi Yamaguchi, who was the ranch's first Japanese cowboy foreman.

Yamaguchi said ranching was exciting and filled with action. Cowboys worked from before dawn to after dark. Life was tough, but the toughness was appealing, causing him to quit school after the seventh grade and hire on at the ranch.

He worked there for 52 years, until he was forced to retire in 1990.

He was 65 then, and still riding horses and roping cattle. He's still at it; last week he participated in a rodeo.

"I won't quit riding until I fall off," Yamaguchi said. "That's my life."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at 234-5266 or eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.