The voyaging canoe Hokule'a came home yesterday, off-loaded from an NYK container ship that brought the canoe from Yokohama, Japan, after its five-month voyage from Hawai'i through Micronesia and through the islands of Japan.

The canoe arrived at Pier 1 about 1 a.m. yesterday, and the offloading was done about 8:30 a.m.

"She's home, back in the water, safe and sound," said Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. "The voyage was extraordinary."

The canoe's next mission, once its masts are restepped and it is resupplied, is to carry the remains of its former captain, the late Kawika Kapahulehua, to his home island, Ni'ihau. Kapahulehua, 76, died May 17. He was the skipper of Hokule'a's initial long-distance voyage from Hawai'i to Tahiti.

"That was the first voyage back to the land of our ancestors in 600 years," Thompson said yesterday. "It involved enormous risk. It was the first pioneering voyage of them all. He had the courage to take the risk. All voyagers ever since owe their success to that first one."

After that, the canoe's initial goal will be a ritual completion of its Japan voyage. "To us, the voyage is not over. We need to go to Holomoana and put closing to Hokule'a and Alingano Maisu's mission," Thompson said, referring to a stone shrine near Mahukona Harbor on Hawai'i, where sailors and supporters gathered for a ceremony before the voyage started in January. He expected that to happen in about three months.

Thompson estimated the voyage, which was 149 days at sea, covered 8,100 nautical miles. He described the voyage as "the most dangerous and risky" yet undertaken because of the threat of typhoons in the Western Pacific.

The voyaging community will also need to celebrate all the help it got from people throughout Hawai'i and the Pacific during the voyage, he said.

"For every one that sailed, there's 150 people who helped and supported the voyage. We need to have that celebration to recognize their contributions," he said.

Hokule'a left O'ahu Jan. 13 to join the Alingano Maisu at Kawaihae on the Big Island, where it was built. The two canoes sailed past Johnston Atoll and into Micronesia, and then on to Japan.

The voyage to Micronesia and Japan had many missions, Thompson said. A key goal was the delivery of the voyaging canoe Alingano Maisu as a gift of thanks to Mau Piailug on the island of Satawal. Piailug was the Micronesian navigator who taught noninstrument navigation to Hawaiian sailors, helping revive Hawaiian canoe voyaging centuries after such voyages had stopped. Piailug was the navigator on the voyage to Tahiti that was captained by Kapahulehua.

Alingano Maisu was built by the Big Island voyaging group Na Kalai Wa'a Moku o Hawai'i, with the help of voyaging societies throughout the state. The canoe is now home-ported at Yap island, under the command of Piailug's son.

Hokule'a went on to Japan on a goodwill mission, and Thompson said the experience, particularly in small fishing villages and rural areas, was important to him.

"I came home with a whole new view on that part of the world. I left Japan with a strong sense of hope. Their heritage is so intact. For example, we slept in a temple that was 1,300 years old. How many generations have taken care of that place?" he said.

"It makes you look at your home through different eyes."

The voyage also was important because it drew on the several voyaging associations of Kaua'i, O'ahu, Maui and Hawai'i, and helped train leadership in all the organizations, he said.

"There was that issue of unity. Leadership development and the unity of the voyaging organizations, to help meet the future educational potential of all the canoes," Thompson said.

The sailing canoe will enter drydock this winter. The canoe was not damaged during this year's voyaging, but it suffered significant wear and tear, he said.

During the coming months, canoe sailors, voyaging supporters and others will be meeting to determine where the 30-year-old canoe will sail next, he said. "We're just very, very grateful to be home, and very thankful to the community that trusted us with the canoe."

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.