Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior

by Mark Panek

"Big Happiness is extremely important to our community. Mark Panek’s biography of Percy Kipapa speaks to the consequences of the destruction of Hawai‘i’s rural neighborhoods, unchecked development, the ice epidemic, the failures of government, sumo, intricate family and neighbor relationships, and more. What is most impressive is Panek’s ability to weave all of these complex topics together in a seamless narrative that connects all the dots. Part mystery, part investigative journalism, part poignant Island portrait, this work contains an emotional element that binds the reader to the subjects in a dignified yet touching way, showing compassion and even affection for people while revealing their flaws and shortcomings. This book will resonate with an Island audience and with anyone interested in Hawai‘i." —Victoria Kneubuhl, Hawai‘i writer and playwright
"This book tells of personal triumphs and failures, and also the triumphs and failures of families, communities, organizations, agencies, governments, and churches dealing with the multiple consequences of ‘progress’ in contemporary Hawai‘i. There have been heroes and villains at all levels—frequently, the same individuals and agencies are both at the same time. The story of Percy Kipapa is especially poignant because professional sumo gave him a unique opportunity to transcend Hawai‘i’s culture of colonialism, racism, poverty, and drug addiction, which in the end all brought him down anyway. Mark Panek has done a masterful job of weaving these strands together."—Reverend Bob Nakata, former Hawai‘i state senator
"Spanning the history of Waikane and the brutality of Japan’s national sport, Big Happiness is a remarkably ambitious piece that links one man’s murder to the ice epidemic, land development, and political corruption in Hawai‘i. Mark Panek’s meticulously researched, skillfully written, heartbreaking story, filled with voices that ring true, is an indictment of an entire system that crushed a gentle giant. While other Hawai‘i writers dwell in ‘take me back to da kine’ nostalgia, Panek tells it like it really is." —Chris McKinney, author of The Tattoo and Mililani Mauka.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2011

About the author

After graduating from Colby College over twenty years ago, Mark Panek arrived in Hawai'i on a one-way ticket with $500 and a surfboard. A year later he stepped off the plane in Tokyo similarly underfunded in search of fame, fortune, and fluency in Japanese. Letters home depicting his subsequent adventures on an around-the-world trip eventually led him into a graduate program in creative writing, where he produced his first book: a biography of Hawaiian sumo champion Akebono, which the Japan Times has called "the best sumo biography in English." His second book, "Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior," won the 2012 Hawai'i Book Publisher's Association's award for excellence in nonfiction. His debut novel, "Hawai'i," which takes on the legacy of James A. Michener in no-holds-barred Tom-Wolfe-ian fashion, has been called "our Bonfire of the Vanities" by the Honolulu Weekly. Panek was recently honored with the Elliot Cades Award for Literature.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Panek’s masterpiece is a harrowing account of the life and death of a quintessential local boy—Waikāne’s Percy Kipapa. More than this, the book delves deep into the root causes of Kipapa’s eventual slide and murder, shedding a brilliant light on the systemic problems that plague Hawaiians in contemporary society. Part loving tribute to a great friend and man, and part damning look at the long-term cultural failures of “New Hawaiʻi,” Mark Panek’s captivating book gracefully weaves together a truly local narrative connecting the death of Percy Kipapa with Hawaiʻi’s shady history of unchecked land development, political corruption, the ice epidemic, and the slow erosion of local values.

The book focuses on the life of Percy Kipapa, a man who was so “full of aloha,” that his given sumo name, Daiki, translates into Big Happiness. By inserting himself into the story, Panek allows us to enter into Percy’s world, creating an emotional bond not only with this modern Hawaiian warrior, but with everything that he represents—his family, the ʻāina, and his local, Hawaiian values. At the same time, Panek’s investigative journalism is well-documented and logically constructed, providing the reader with important questions and rationally answering them without making grand speculative claims, culminating in an excellently transcribed and climactic murder trial.

By interlacing detailed investigation and analysis, first-hand experiences, and masterful writing, Mark Panek’s Big Happiness proves to be one of the most socially important and poignant books to come out of Hawaiʻi in recent memory.

[Donald Carreira Ching · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a lot to say about Big Happiness, ask anyone on my Facebook, or at work; I've been talking about it since its release and sincerely feel that it's one of the most important books of the last five years. Panek tells the story of a Hawai`i lost to over development, to the consequences that urbanization brings, to an epidemic that was for so long overlooked and that has now crippled generations, and of a man and a people caught between it all. There is a lot of emotion here, a lot of heart, and a lot of character. My mentor recommended this book to me while I was nearing the completion of my own novel, and I couldn't be more grateful for that recommendation as many of the themes discussed here are talked about it in my own work. Panek is in a class all his own, and Big Happiness easily stands out to me as book of the year. Two words: READ IT!

[Eva-Lani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very thankful to have been recommended this book. I was engaged from the start just by the book being set on the Windward side of Oahu, my hometown, and being able to picture all the landmarks. That being said this drew me in on so many levels beyond that superficial one and really opened my eyes to my surroundings. At so many points Percy's story moved me to tears and anger and even awe about how lucky I am to live on the Windward side.

[Shawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written by one of my former UH-Hilo English professors. What I like most about it is that it reads kind of like a novel, even though it is non-fiction. The book is about Percy Kipapa, a local boy who went to Japan and became a sumo wrestler, and was murdered in Hawaii in 2005. It is also about ice addiction and land ownership in Hawaii. Chapter 12 (The Trial) is the best chapter.

[Kerstin Lampert · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good, I created a new shelf...."Hawaiiana", but I'm considering giving author Mark Panek the distinction of having invented a new literary genre: something like: "Local issue sensitivity"???

He specializes in burrowing into a locale's particular issues and helping the reader "get it".

I have marveled at the complexities of the evolving Hawaiian diversity, economy, politic and spirit.

How to explain it? "Big Happiness..." does a pretty good job.

[Paul McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big Happiness tells three interconnected stories. Three stories the Hawaii board of tourism would prefer you remain ignorant of.
First there is the tragic story of Percy Kipapa, a Hawaiian who goes to Japan to be a sumo wrestler, endures all of the stress, isolation and loneliness of being in a country where he doesn't speak the language and the grueling sometimes sadistic training involved to be in the sumo world.
The book also details how when he comes home 7 years later after accomplishing some truly amazing things in the sumo world, but with a body that is deeply broken, the Hawaii he returns to is not the beautiful ideal he remembers it. There are no opportunities for a 400+ pound Hawaiian in his native state. In fact there are very few opportunities for any native Hawaiians, other than drugs, alcohol abuse and desperation. It details Percy's fall, his murder, and the trial.
The second story details how Ice (meth) has taken hold of the Hawaiian islands, how it happened, and what role government had involved in crating the epidemic abuse of ice, and what little they have done to try and fix the problem.
The third part of the story details the corruption, and pure greed of over land development, kicking native Hawaiians off of their family land, and how everything is for sale to the highest bidder.
The story of the Hawaiian islands is a story of horrible abuse by government, missionaries, big business, and foreign outsiders destroying a set of islands for their own enrichment.
I can not recommend this book enough. The author Mark Panek, doesn't just tell this story well, he becomes part of it, and because he such a great writer, the reader feels they too are intimately part of what is unfolding.

[Susan]

Maybe in another time/place/mindset I might finish this book.
I'm fine with the pidgin.
It's the entire Japanese side of it that i found tedious.
I'm sure it appeals to people; just not me right now.

[Patiki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nicely readable book. Recommend for readers whose interests include Oahu land development history, social issues, Kahaluu/Waiahole/Waikane, and crime.

[Sujatha Raman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The dramatic prologue hooked me. You meet Percy Kipapa as he is being brutally pummeled by a pack of gigantic sumo wrestlers. Beaten mercilessly and repeatedly until he collapses and is unable to get off the floor. The frightening and horrifying scene somehow manages to convey Percy's sweet nature and personality when he musters the strength to stand up because he does not want his mother to hear that he died because he could not get up from the floor.
The skillfully written book spans from sumo wrestling in Japan to growing up in Hawaii. Meticulously researched, the book seamlessly weaves cultural and social issues such as the impact of ICE epidemic and greedy real estate developers on the local Hawaiian community. Through endearing details of the happy, go lucky and much loved Percy Kipapa, and his family, the book shows us the struggles of a modern Hawaiian family toiling to keep their few acres of land, the crushing impact of real estate development and the insidious drug epidemic.
The lack of images and photos was conspicuous and caused me to wonder if the Kipapa family had agreed to this detailed and intimate telling of their son's life and death. After all, Hawaii is a small place and the Hawaiian community tightly connected so that airing the family laundry is considered shameful. Several Hawaiians in my book group wondered if the story could not have fictionalized with the names changed to protect the Kipapa name.
We all agreed that the book would have benefited from another round of editing.

Percy is a local boy from Waikane, a small area thirty minutes outside of Honolulu. Its close to Kaneohe which is considered a big city by Waikane residents. It is one of the small towns that is yet to be gentrified where the people still grow their own food, and live in one story houses with tin roofs, with chickens wandering in the front yard which is used to store the spare washer dryer or refrigerator and furniture. Percy's struggle to create a life for himself, his decision to go to Japan away from all that he knows is dramatically and movingly documented .

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

fascinating story, the depth of consideration that the author gives to the issues here is both wonderfully complex and sometimes a little boring. if you stick with it though, it all ties together very nicely.