There are at least four different people called Te Kanawa.

Te Kanawa, ancestor of Ngāti Te Kanawa

One is the ancestor of the

Ngāti Te Kanawa Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

hapū of the Tainui confederation of iwi and is closely tied to Ngāti Tamainupō. He is referred to as Te Kanawa II, and is the grandson of the first Te Kanawa (Te Kanawa Pango) of Ngāti Maniapoto.

Te Kanawa of Ngāti Maniapoto

Another was a chief of the Ngāti Maniapoto, another Tainui iwi. Te Kanawa was a warlord of Maniapoto; he settled disputes with a taiaha within Tainui or outside Tainui. Some of these disputes were boundary disputes, hence the Ngāti Hari connection. The boundary line between Tūwharetoa and Maniapoto and the marae Hia Kaitupeka by Taumarunui. He is represented by an amo on their carved meeting house.

Te Kanawa

He was killed in the campaign known as Putu-karekare or Patu-karekare, which was fought at Kawhia in the time before Te Rauparaha had left Kawhia around 1820.Pei Te Hurunui: "King Potatau"

Te Kanawa of Ngāti Mahuta and Ngāti Naho

He was also known as Te Kanawa Ikatu of the

Ngāti Mahuta Ngāti Mahuta is a sub-tribe (or hapū) of the Waikato tribe (or iwi) of Māori in the North Island of New Zealand. The territory (rohe) of Ngāti Mahuta is the Kawhia and Huntly areas of the Waikato region. History Ngāti Mahuta is descended f ...

and

Ngāti Naho Waikato Tainui, Waikato or Tainui is a group of Māori ''iwi'' based in Waikato Region, in the western central region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the larger Tainui confederation of Polynesian settlers who arrived to New Zealand ...

hapū, and was one of the principal chiefs of the Waikato

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 C ...

. He was a close confederate of

Pōtatau Te Wherowhero Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (died 25 June 1860) was a Māori warrior, leader of the Waikato iwi (confederation of tribes), the first Māori King and founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. He was first known just as ''Te Wherowhero'' and took the ...

, the first

Māori King 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 ...

, and lived from c. 1770 to c. 1860. He was signatory to the treaty signing at Kawhia. His wife was Te Rahuruake (according to Pei Te Hurunui in his book ''King Potatau'', p. 120) and their son was Kihirini Te Kanawa. Te Kanawa Ikatu had a sister, Parekohu. Whose great grandson was Wiremu Te Wheoro.

Sources

Whakapapa Forum Post
{{SIA New Zealand Māori people