Tū-irirangi 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 Ngāti Whāita hapu of the

Ngāti Raukawa Ngāti Raukawa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Waikato, Taupo and Manawatu/Horowhenua regions of New Zealand. In 2006, 29,418 Māori registered their affiliation with Ngāti Raukawa. History Early history Ngāti Raukawa rec ...

iwi 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, ...

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 ...

tribal confederation from the

Waikato region Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...

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 ...

. He is an ancestor of the

Ngāti Kinohaku Kinohaku was a Maori woman of Ngāti Maniapoto in the Tainui tribal confederation from the Waikato region, New Zealand. She is the eponymous ancestor of the Ngāti Kinohaku hapu (sub-tribe) of Ngāti Maniapoto and probably lived in the seventeen ...

hapu (sub-tribe) of

Ngāti Maniapoto Ngāti Maniapoto is an iwi (tribe) based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the Tainui confederation, the members of which trace their whakapapa (genealogy) back to people who arrived in New Zealand on th ...

and probably lived in the mid-to-late seventeenth century.

Life

Tū-irirangi was born at Kāwhia. His father was Huiao, who was himself a son of Whāita and a great-grandson of Raukawa, the founder of

Ngati Raukawa ''Ngati'' is a 1987 New Zealand feature film directed by Barry Barclay, written by Tama Poata and produced by John O'Shea. Production ''Ngati'' is of historical and cultural significance in New Zealand as it is the first feature film written an ...

, through whom he 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 in ...

, the leader of the

canoe. His mother was Māpau-inuhia, a daughter of Uenuku-tuhatu, 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 reg ...

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 Huetaep ...

. He had one full sister, Hine-moana, and a half-brother, Paiariki. Tū-irirangi married Kinohaku, a daughter of Rereahu and sister of Maniapoto. He was her cousin on both sides, since her father, Rereahu was a son of Raukawa, while her mother Hine-au-Pounamu was the daughter of one of Māpau-inuhia's brothers. The amount of food gathered by Tū-irirangi and his tribe for the wedding feast was enormous and remains a source of

mana According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being ...

for his descendants, Ngāti Kinohaku. In response to this, some Tainui people joked that Kinohaku had been “bought with pipi.”

Defence of Ngaku-raho

Tū-irirangi settled at Ngaku-raho, a rocky pinnacle near Hangatiki and very near the final base of Maniapoto at Te Ana-a-Maniapoto / Te Ana-a-uriuri, along with his elderly father Huiao. The earthworks and cuttings carried out to fortify the site were still visible as of 1932 and include an unusual trench designed to allow access to a cliff face so that besieged forces could rappel down from the summit to a spring halfway up the pinnacle, called Nga-roro-o-te-Huaki. Pteridium esculentum kz5

A ''rangatira'' named Pākira brought a war party from

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

against Ngaku-raho at a time when most of Tū-irirangi’s men were away on a fishing expedition. It is not clear why this expedition cames,

Pei Te Hurinui Jones Pei Te Hurinui Jones (9 September 1898 – 7 May 1976) was a 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 Kingitanga mo ...

suggests that they were seeking revenge for the earlier campaign by Tamāio against the Ngāti Hā who had established themselves on 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 natur ...

at modern

Taumarunui Taumarunui is a small town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on an alluvial plain set within rugged terrain on the upper reaches of the Whanganui River, 65 km south of Te Kuiti and 55 km west of T ...

. This war party including a group of

Ngāti Tama Ngāti Tama is a historic Māori iwi of present-day New Zealand which whakapapas back to Tama Ariki, the chief navigator on the Tokomaru waka. The iwi of Ngati Tama is located in north Taranaki around Poutama. The Mōhakatino river marks the ...

from Parininihi. Pākira encamped at the spring Nga-roro-o-te-Huaki. Tū-irirangi and Huiao ran all over the fortress, making themselves visible at multiple different locations, and performing war dances in many different parts of it, so that the besiegers would think that there was a large force inside the fortress. Eventually, however, it became clear that the rest of the tribe were not going to return from their fishing expedition in time, so Tū-irirangi and Huiao sent Hine-moana, Tū-irirangi’s sister down to Pākira’s camp and she arranged a peace treaty in exchange for marrying one of the members of his war-party, called Tūpito. Then Pākira’s force departed. A year after the expedition, Hine-moana had a son with Tūpito and, when the sons of Tū-irirangi heard about it, they decided to go and visit the child and that if it was a boy, they would murder it, so that Tūpito could not boast about having a son as his first-born. However, when they visited Hine-moana realised what they were planning and held the child in such a way that they could not see his penis, so they thought he was a girl and left without killing him. Tūpito was furious about this and chased after Tū-irirangi’s sons intending to kill them, but they set the '' rarauhe'' (bracken fern) on fire and got away while Tūpito’s men were dealing with the fire.

Later life

When Tū-irirangi's brother-in-law, Maniapoto, was nearing death, he went to Pukeroa and told Tū-irirangi to gather the people for a

hui The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...

. When the people had gathered, they performed the '' tū waewae''

haka Haka (; plural ''haka'', in both Māori and English) are a variety of ceremonial performance art in Māori culture. It is often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted or chanted accompani ...

(a war dance with weapons) for Maniapoto, who died before the end of the meeting. After many years, Hinerangi visited Ngaku-raho, while she was fleeing the murder of her father, Mania-takamaiwaho. Tū-irirangi developed a desire to marry her. She refused, but Kinohaku was furious that her husband had considered marrying another woman, so she had an affair with Tū-irirangi’s half-brother Pai-ariki. When Tū-irirangi found out, he went to Pai-ariki’s village, Te Rua-o-te-manu near Te Kuiti, intending to murder him. When he arrived, Pai-ariki went out to him without any weapons and said, "Your

taiaha A taiaha () is a traditional weapon of the Māori of New Zealand; a close-quarters staff weapon made from either wood or whalebone, and used for short, sharp strikes or stabbing thrusts with efficient footwork on the part of the wielder. Taiaha a ...

(spear) can be your brother from now on." Then Tū-irirangi was ashamed and went away to Kāwhia, where he re-married and had another son. Pai-ariki moved to Kāwā, where he married Kuo and Hinengako. One day, toward the end of the seventeenth century, Tū-irirangi went from Kāwhia to the Wai-tētē Creek, where he started to make a fishing raft from a whau tree. A man called Whanowhano-ake came out from nearby Manu-aitu and struck Tū-irirangi on the head with his

kotiate Kotiate is a type of traditional hand weapon of the Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. A kotiate is a short club normally made of wood or whalebone. Kotiate means to cut or divide the liver (koti = cut in two or divide; ate = liver), ...

club, killing him. Tū-irirangi's son Te Ariari escaped and told the people of Kāwhia, who led a number of unsuccessful expeditions against the fortresses of Tātahi, Kōrero-maiwaho, and Te Rua-o-te-huia, until his death was eventually avenged by a large force led by Ika-tāmure, Kārewarewa, and two thousand Te Ati Awa from

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 D ...

Family

Tū-irirangi first married Kinohaku and had three sons and one daughter: * Whakapau-tangaroa * Kāhui-tangaroa * Tangaroa-kino, who killed Hou-taketake after his uncle Maniapoto’s conflict with him. * Rangipare, who was meant to marry Wairangi, but eloped with her cousin Tū-taka-moana, son of Maniapoto, leading to the Battle of Waiponga: :*Rangatahi, an ancestor of the Ngāti Rangatahi and Ngāti Urunumia hapu of Ngāti Maniapoto. After he moved to Kāwhia, Tū-irirangi re-married to Māmaua / Maromuka, by whom he had four sons: * Tūahu-māhina * Parekino * Te Pūhara-o-Tainui, who started the War of Te Whate-o-hua-raratahi against Tonga-nui and the other sons of Māhanga by chopping down a

tōtara ''Podocarpus totara'' (; from the Maori-language ; the spelling "totara" is also common in English) is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane a ...

tree with his uncle Pai-ariki, and was killed by Tonga-nui at Te Kawaroa. * Tū-paenga-roa, who took in Pai-ariki after the death of Te Pūhara-o-Tainui and killed Tonga-nui and his brothers while they were besieging his fortress at Manu-aitu. * Te Ariari.

Sources

and Leslie George Kelly report the life of Tū-irirangi, based on oral accounts that they both received from Whare Hotu of Oparure (an 8th generation descendant of Tū-irirangi). Kelly also received some information from Newton Moerua of Hangatiki.

References

Bibliography

* *{{cite news , last1=Kelly , first1=Leslie G. , title=Ngaku-raho Pa, Hangatika, journal=Journal of the Polynesian Society, volume=43, number=170, date=1934, pages=101–105 17th-century New Zealand people Ngāti Raukawa people New Zealand Māori men Māori tribal leaders People from Waikato