Tāwhao was a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

rangatira In Māori culture, () are tribal chiefs, the hereditary Māori leaders of a hapū. Ideally, rangatira were people of great practical wisdom who held authority () on behalf of the tribe and maintained boundaries between a tribe's land and tha ...

(chief) in the

Tainui Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato. There are ...

confederation of tribes, based at

Kāwhia Kawhia Harbour (Maori: ''Kāwhia'') is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southwe ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. He probably lived around 1500 CE. He was the last chief to led the whole of Tainui, since the feud between his two sons,

Whatihua Whatihua was a Māori rangatira (chief) in the Tainui confederation of tribes, based at Kāwhia, New Zealand. He quarrelled with his brother, Tūrongo, and as a result Tainui was split between them, with Whatihua receiving the northern Waikato regio ...

and

Tūrongo Tūrongo was a Māori rangatira (chief) in the Tainui confederation of tribes, based at Rangiātea, near Waikeria, New Zealand. He quarrelled with his brother, Whatihua, and as a result Tainui was split between them, with Tūrongo receiving the s ...

, led him to divide it into northern and southern sections.

Life

Tāwhao was a male-line descendant of

Hoturoa According to Māori tradition, Hoturoa was the leader of the ''Tainui'' canoe, during the migration of the Māori people to New Zealand, around 1400. He is considered the founding ancestor of the Tainui confederation of tribes (iwi), who now inh ...

, leader of the ''

'' waka through his father Kākāti. According to Jones, the line of descent is Hoturoa, Hotuope, Hotuāwhio, Hotumatapū, Mōtai, Ue (who married

Kahupeka Kahupeka (sometimes referred to as Kahu, Kahupekapeka or Kahukeke) was a Maori healer in the 1400s who helped pioneer herbal medicine in New Zealand. She is remembered in oral history as a Tainui explorer who travelled the North Island, naming ...

), Rakamaomao, and Kākāti. His mother was Ururangi, a descendant of Taumauri from the ''

Kurahaupō ''Kurahaupō'' was one of the great ocean-going, voyaging canoes that was used in the migrations that settled New Zealand in Māori tradition. In Taranaki tribal tradition, ''Kurahaupō'' is known as ''Te Waka Pakaru ki te moana'' or 'The Can ...

'' waka. He was born at Kāwhia and had one older brother, Koro-te-whao, about whom nothing is recorded, and younger half-brother, Tuhianga, who had further descendants, including

Haumia Haumia-tiketike (or simply Haumia) is the god of all uncultivated vegetative food in Māori mythology. He is particularly associated with the starchy rhizome of the ''Pteridium esculentum'', which became a major element of the Māori diet in for ...

and Kaihamu. As a young man, Tāwhao moved to Whāingaroa ( Raglan), where he married Pūnui-a-te-kore, daughter of Te Aorere, another descendant of Hoturoa. After his marriage, Tāwhao fell in love with his wife's younger sister, Maru-tē-hiakina, who lived at Hōrea on the other side of Whāingaroa harbour. Tāwhao caught her attention by making a small raft out of

raupō ''Typha orientalis'', commonly known as bulrush, cumbungi, or raupō, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the genus ''Typha''. It is native to Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, China and the ...

rushes, fastening his ivory cloak-pin (''aurei'') to it, and floating the raft across the harbour to Maru-tē-hiakina using a

karakia Karakia are Māori incantations and prayers, used to invoke spiritual guidance and protection. With the nineteenth-century introduction of Christianity to New Zealand, Māori adopted (or wrote new) karakia to acknowledge the new faith. Moder ...

. When Maru-tē-hiakina picked up the raft and saw the cloak-pin, she instantly fell in love with Tāwhao and went to marry him. Tāwhao returned to Kāwhia with both wives pregnant. Maru-tē-hiakina gave birth first, to a boy named Whatihua, and then Pūnui-a-te-kore gave birth to a son called Tūrongo.This is the version given by Rore Erueti, Te Hurinui Te Wano, and others, but Te Nguha Huirama gives the mothers the opposite way around. Because Whatihua was the first-born but Tūrongo was son of the senior wife, the relative status of the two sons was unclear and they competed for pre-eminance. Eventually, the conflict led Tūrongo to leave Kāwhia and settle at

Pukehou Pukehou is a farming locality in southern Hawke's Bay, in the eastern North Island of New Zealand. Pukehou is located on State Highway 2, about halfway between Hastings and Waipukurau. The locality's name (originally ''Pukehouhou'') is Māori, ...

in the southern

Hawke's Bay Region Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region ...

. In his old age, Tāwhao travelled to Pukehou and invited Tūrongo to return to Kāwhia. There he divided his lands between Whatihua and Tūrongo, roughly along the ''aukati'' line that later formed the northern boundary of the

King Country The King Country (Māori: ''Te Rohe Pōtae'' or ''Rohe Pōtae o Maniapoto'') is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from the Kawhia Harbour and the town of Otorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of ...

. The north went to Whatihua, who remained at Kāwhia, while the south went to Tūrongo, who was sent inland and settled at Rangiātea, near

Waikeria Waikeria is a rural community in the Otorohanga District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. Waikeria Prison, one of New Zealand's largest prisons, is located on a site on Waikeria Road. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture an ...

References

Bibliography

*{{cite book , last1=Jones , first1=Pei Te Hurinui , last2=Biggs , first2=Bruce , title=Ngā iwi o Tainui : nga koorero tuku iho a nga tuupuna = The traditional history of the Tainui people , date=2004 , publisher=Auckland University Press , location=Auckland .Z., isbn=1869403312 Tainui people New Zealand Māori men Māori tribal leaders 16th-century New Zealand people