Toi-te-huatahi, also known as Toi and Toi-kai-rākau, is a legendary

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 ...

''tupuna'' (

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...

) of many

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, an ...

(tribes) from the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

area, including

Ngāti Awa Ngāti Awa is a Māori iwi (tribe) centred in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand. It is made of 22 hapū (subtribes), with 15,258 people claiming affiliation to the iwi in 2006. The Ngāti Awa people are primarily located in towns ...

Ngāi Te Rangi Ngāi Te Rangi or Ngāiterangi is a Māori people, Māori iwi, based in Tauranga, New Zealand. Its rohe (tribal area) extends to Mayor Island / Tuhua and Waihi Beach, Bowentown in the north, to the Kaimai Range in the west, south of Te Puke and to ...

and

Ngāi Tūhoe Ngāi Tūhoe (), often known simply as Tūhoe, is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. It takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. ''Tūhoe'' is a Māori-language word meaning "steep" or "high noon". Tūhoe people also bear the sobriquet ...

. The Bay of Plenty's name in te reo Māori, Te Moana-a-Toi, references Toi-te-huatahi.

Names

His name Toi-te-huatahi is a reference to Toi being an only child. Toi-kai-rākau ("Toi the Wood Eater"), was a name given to him by later settlers in the region who introduced agriculture, and is a reference to how Toi would eat the foods of the forest.

Traditions

Toi-te-huatahi's legendary ancestor in

Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern fantastic tales relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pr ...

was the tīwakawaka (

New Zealand fantail The New Zealand fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa'') is a small insectivorous bird, the only species of fantail in New Zealand. It has four subspecies: ''R. f. fuliginosa'' in the South Island, ''R. f. placabilis'' in the North Island, ''R. f. pe ...

). Based on the traditional genealogies of Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāi Tūhoe, Toi-te-huatahi is estimated to have lived between the 13th and 14th centuries. According to different traditions, Toi was either born in

Hawaiki In Polynesian mythology, (also rendered as in Cook Islands Māori, in Samoan, in Tahitian, in Hawaiian) is the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in many Māori stories. ...

and came to Aotearoa by a migratory canoe (waka hourua), or was one of the first people to be born in Aotearoa. Toi's people are said to have inhabited the Bay of Plenty region before the arrival of the '' Arawa'', ''

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 oth ...

'' and ''

Mātaatua ''Mātaatua'' was one of the great voyaging canoes by which Polynesians migrated to New Zealand, according to Māori tradition. Māori traditions say that the ''Mātaatua'' was initially sent from Hawaiki to bring supplies of kūmara to Māori ...

'' migratory waka. One of the most well-known stories of Toi involves

Uenuku Uenuku (or Uenuku-Kōpako, also given to some who are named after him) is an atua of rainbows and a prominent ancestor in Māori tradition. Māori believed that the rainbow's appearance represented an omen, and one kind of yearly offering made ...

. Chief Uenuku of

Rangiātea Rangiātea in New Zealand Māori culture and tradition, is considered to be simultaneously a physical place as well as a metaphysical place. The physical Rangiātea is somewhere in the Pacific Islands, possibly Ra'iātea Island in the Society Islan ...

becomes annoyed with a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

and kills it, after which Toi-te-huatahi consumes the dog. The ancestor

Tamatekapua In Māori mythology, Māori tradition of New Zealand, Tama-te-kapua, also spelt Tamatekapua and Tama-te-Kapua and also known as Tama, was the captain of the ''Arawa (canoe), Arawa'' canoe which came to New Zealand from Polynesia in about 1350. ...

and his brother Whakatūria, sons of Houmai, search for the dog, and hear it barking inside Toi's belly. In revenge, they created stilts for Tama (the taller of the brothers) and stole the fruit from Uenuku's poroporo tree. Uenuku declares war, and with his friend Toi he attacks the village of Houmai, but the forces of Uenuku were ultimately defeated. Ngāti Awa and Ngāi Tūhoe traditions state that Toi lived at a pā named Kaputerangi near modern-day

Whakatāne Whakatāne ( , ) is the seat of the Bay of Plenty region in the North Island of New Zealand, east of Tauranga and north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatāne River. Whakatāne District is the encompassing territorial authority, whi ...

. May place names around Whakatāne and the Bay of Plenty reference Toi, such as

Te Whaiti Te Whaiti or Te Whāiti, formerly called Ahikereru, is a forested area in the Whakatāne District and Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. It is at the northern end of the Ahikereru valley – Minginui is at the southern end. T ...

(Te Whāiti-nui-a-Toi). In

Hauraki Māori The Hauraki Māori are a group of Māori iwi at or around Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. It includes Ngāti Tara Tokanui, Ngāti Koi, Te Patukirikiri, Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Huarere, Ngāti Hei, Ngāi Tai, Ngāti Pūkenga and Ngāti Rāhiri. It also ...

traditions, Toi lived at

Whitianga Whitianga is a town on the Coromandel Peninsula, in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. The town is located on Mercury Bay, on the northeastern coast of the peninsula. The town has a permanent population of as of making it the ...

on the

Coromandel Peninsula The Coromandel Peninsula ( mi, Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui) on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the we ...

. The meeting house at Waikirikiri Marae in

Ruatoki Ruatoki or Rūātoki is a district in the eastern Bay of Plenty of New Zealand, just south of the small town of Tāneatua and approximately 20 km south of the city of Whakatāne. The Whakatāne River runs northwards through the Ruatoki Valle ...

is named after Toi-kai-rākau. Toi-te-huatahi is said to have visited the Mahurangi Peninsula,, and planted a karaka grove at

Ōtara Ōtara is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand (formerly Manukau City), situated 18 kilometres to the southeast of the Auckland CBD. Ōtara lies near the head of the Tamaki River (actually an arm of the Hauraki Gulf), which extends south t ...

, Tāmaki Makaurau.Graham – "Tainui" (1951), p.90 (f.n)

Descendants

Descentants of Toi are known as Te Tini-o-Toi, while descendants of his son Awanuiārangi often refer to themselves as Te Tini-o-Awa. Descendants of Toi were some of the first settlers of Little Barrier Island / Te Hauturu-o-Toi in the Hauraki Gulf."Features: Little Barrier Island Nature Reserve (Hauturu-o-Toi)"

Department of Conservation (New Zealand) The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori: ''Te Papa Atawhai'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealand's natural and historical heritage. An advisory body, the New Zealand Conservation Au ...

. Retrieved 8 September 2012. Whātonga, who in some oral histories is described as the captain of 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, was the grandson of Toi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toi-te-huatahi Legendary Māori people Legendary Polynesian people Legendary progenitors Polynesian navigators