Hotunui was a Maori ''

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 that ...

'' (chieftain) of the Tainui tribal confederation of Waikato,

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 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Through his son

Marutūāhu __NOTOC__ Marutūāhu, Marutūahu or Marutuahu is a collective of the Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) of the Hauraki region of New Zealand. The confederation is made up of the tribes of Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāti Whanaunga and Ng� ...

he is the ancestor of four tribes of the Hauraki Gulf: Ngāti Maru,

Ngāti Rongoū Ngāti Rongoū is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand. It is one of five tribes of the Marutūāhu confederation, the others being Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Whanaunga and Ngāti Tamaterā. The Marutūāhu ...

Ngāti Tamaterā Ngāti Tamaterā is a Māori '' iwi'' (tribe) of the Hauraki region of New Zealand, descended from Tamaterā, the second son of Marutūāhu. It is a major tribe within the Marutūāhu confederation and its leaders have been prominent in Hauraki ...

, and

Ngāti Whanaunga Ngāti Whanaunga is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand, descended from Whanaunga, the third son of Marutūāhu. It is one of the tribes of the Marutūāhu confederation, the others being Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Ron ...

. He probably lived in the latter half of the sixteenth century.

Life

According to the Tainui traditions reported by

Pei Te Hurinui Jones Pei Te Hurinui Jones (9 September 1898 – 7 May 1976) was a Māori people, Māori political leader, writer, genealogist, and historian. He identified with the Ngāti Maniapoto iwi. As a leader of the Tainui confederation of iwi and of the ...

, Hotunui was the son of Uenuku-te-rangi-hōkā, son of

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 regi ...

(through whom he was a male-line descendant of

Hoturoa According to Māori mythology, Māori tradition, Hoturoa was the leader of the ''Tainui (canoe), Tainui'' canoe, during the Māori migration canoes, migration of the Māori people to New Zealand, around 1400. He is considered the founding ancestor ...

, the captain of the '' Tainui'') and

Rua-pū-tahanga Rua-pū-tahanga was a Māori ''puhi ariki'' (chieftainess) from Ngāti Ruanui, who married Whatihua and thus became the ancestor of many tribes of Tainui. She probably lived in the sixteenth century. Life Rua-pū-tahanga was a daughter of Huetaepo ...

of Ngāti Ruanui (through whom he was a descendant of Turi, the captain of the '' Aotea'' canoe). He had two half-brothers,

Tamāio Tamāio was a Maori people, Maori ''rangatira'' (chieftain) of the Tainui tribal confederation, based at Kāwhia in Waikato, New Zealand. He was the first chieftain to lead a war-party inland from Kāwhia, in a war against Ngāti Hā, sometime aroun ...

and Mōtai. Uenuku-te-rangi-hōkā went to live in south

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

, the homeland of his mother, settling at Taukōkako, near Taiporohēnui, where Hotonui was born. Ngāti Maru tradition appears to identify Hotunui with Hoturoa, but while Jones concedes that Hotunui may be an alternative name for Hoturoa, he insists that the father of Marutūāhu is a different, later individual.

Marriage to Mihi-rāwhiti

Te Parapra Maori Garden, Hamilton Gardens, New Zealand 19

When Hotonui grew up, he married a lady from Kāwhia, Mihi-rāwhiti (perhaps originally named Whaea-tapoko) daughter of Māhanga (son of Tūheita, rival of

Kōkako Kōkako (''Callaeas'') are two species of endangered forest birds which are endemic to New Zealand, the North Island kōkako (''Callaeas wilsoni'') and the presumably extinct South Island kōkako (''Callaeas cinereus''). They are both slate-gre ...

and a descendant of Hoturoa), gives two, conflicting, lines of descent, both deriving from Hoturoa's great-grandson, Hotumatapū. and they split their time between Taranaki and Kāwhia. Their first two sons, Manu-kōpiri and Maru-wharanui, were born in south Taranaki. During a stay in Kāwhia, some of Māhanga's

kumara Kumara may refer to: Places * Kumara (Mali), a province * Kumara, New Zealand, a town * Kumara (New Zealand electorate), a Parliamentary electorate Other uses * Kumara Illangasinghe, an Anglican bishop in Sri Lanka * Kumara (surname) * The Four ...

were stolen and Hotonui's footprints were found outside, so he was accused of the theft. In his fury, Māhanga went out, uprooted all of Hotunui's kumara plants and crushed their mounds. Hotunui was so angry and ashamed at this that he left, an event known to Tainui as 'Te Mara-tuahu-kau' (the cultivation mounded without result). Mihi-rāwhiti was pregnant at the time and Hotonui instructed her to name the child in memory of his expulsion: Maru-tūahu ('crushed mound') if it was a boy and Pare-tūahu if it was a girl. In the end she had a boy. Hotunui settled among the Uri o Pou / Ngāti Pou at

Whakatīwai Whakatīwai is a locality on the Seabird Coast on the western shore of the Firth of Thames, in the Hauraki District, New Zealand. Whakatīwai is the location of Wharekawa Marae, which holds importance for Ngāti Paoa and Ngāti Whanaunga. Whakat ...

on the Hauraki Gulf, where he married a local woman. According to

, she was a sister of the local chief Te Whata (or Te Whatu). According to a Hauraki Ngāti Maru account reported by John White, she was Waitapu, daughter of Rua-hiore.

Journey of Maru-tūahu

When Maru-tūahu grew up, he set off for Hauraki in search of his father. Along the way he was met by two daughters of Te Whata, Hine-rehua (or Hine-urunga) and Pare-moeahu, who both instantly decided that they wanted to marry him. After they had discovered who he was, Pare-moeahu ran to Hotonui and told him of his son's arrival. Maru-tūahu subsequently married her. According to Pei Te Hurinui Jones Hine-rehua married Hotunui's other son Pākā, but Ngāti Maru tradition says that she also married Maru-tūahu.

Family and descendants

Hotunui and Mihi-rāwhiti had three children: * Manu-kōpiri, who was born in South Taranaki, and settled along the

Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natura ...

. * Maru-wharanui, who was born in South Taranaki, and whose descendants, if any, remained there. The Ngāti Maru of Hauraki say that he is the ancestor of the Ngāti Maru of Taranaki, but they themselves say he had a different parentage. * Maru-tūahu, who married Pare-moeahu, daughter of Te Whata and had sons: :* Tama-te-pō, ancestor of Ngāti Rongoū :* Tama-te-rā, ancestor of Ngāti Tamaterā :* Whanaunga, ancestor of Ngāti Whanaunga :* According to Ngāti Maru tradition, Maru-tūahu also married Te Whata's elder daughter, Hine-rehua, and had Te Ngako or Te Ngakohua, ancestor of the Hauraki Ngāti Maru Hotunui and Waitapu had one son: * Pākā, who married Hine-rehua, daughter of Te Whata, according to Pei Te Hurinui Jones, and had a daughter, Kahu-reremoa, who herself married Taka-kōpiri, son of Rangitahi, of Te Arawa, whose daughter Tū-parahaki was an ancestor of

Ngāti Hauā Ngāti Hauā is a Māori people, Māori iwi of the eastern Waikato of New Zealand. It is part of the Tainui confederation. Its traditional area includes Matamata, Cambridge, New Zealand, Cambridge, Maungakawa, the Horotiu district along the Wai ...

Sources

A Tainui account of Hotunui is recorded by Pei Te Hurinui Jones but, unusually, he does not report his source. It also appears in S. Percy Smith's ''History and Traditions of the Maoris of the west coast North Island of New Zealand prior to 1840'', published in 1910. Hauraki Ngāti Maru versions are recorded by

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...

in 1853 and by John White in 1888.

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