Kāhu ki Rotorua: Muruika housed kainga, pataka and sacred altars

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See below for English translation

Ko Muruika he whenua mana nui

Ki tua o Tamatekapua ki tahaki o te rotomoana ko te whare karakia o Te Hahi o Te Whakapono e tū ana.

Ko Muruika te ingoa o te whenua. He whenua mana nui, he whenua whakahirahira onamata.

He tino wāhi ki ngā uri o Te Arawa, tūturu ki te rahi o Ngāti Whakaue. Koia nei ko Muruika.

E ai ki ngā tuhinga a James Cowan ko tētehi o ngā whare nui i tū ki runga o Muruika ko Te Matapihi nō Korokai he rangatira nō Ngāti Whakaue.

He pātaka hoki i tū ki kōnei ko Tatuawetekina. Ko tona tikanga kia kaua e tukuna ki a itiiti te kai ki tona poho, kai tūpono ka whakaekea ohoreretia rātau e te pīoi.

Wheoi anō rā, ka huri ngā kaupeka, ka huri ngā kaupeka, ka tū he whare, ka hinga, ka tū anō he whare ka hinga, ka huri ngā whakatupuranga me te aha noa atu, ka whakahuringia te takoto o te whenua.

Ki tetehi wahanga o te Muruika he tuahu, he wahi tapu e kore e ahai te tangata mā ngà tohunga anake tēnei wāhi, ā, ki tētehi wāhanga hoki o Muruika he urupā.

Ko tetehi o ngā okiokinga a Te Rākau he toa onamata i mate-tarā whare. Ka whakaaro ake e te iwi kia tanumia tenei rangatira ki tōna whenua kura hai tūtei mō te iwi.

Drone shot of Muruika, looking back towards the village of Ohinemutu.

Nā Te Rākau i ora iti ai a Te Arawa i te horonga o Mokoia i te ringa kaha o Hongi Hika me ngā taniwha o te Nōtā.

Kāti hā! Ki tētehi wāhanga anō hoki he pōwhatu mana nui. Nā Ihenga tonu tēnei pōwhatu i whakaaraara.

Ki Waikareao tēnei pōwhatu tapu tū ai, hai etehi anō hoki, tū kē ai ki Rutau.

Ko Rutau kai te taha uru kai tahaki o te roto moana.

Kāti – he mea tapā ki te mauri ora o Hinetekakara. He wahine rangatira i patua e te ope tauā onamata.

Nā tēnei pōwhatu mana nui i kore ai a Te Arawa i mate i te pakanga nui i a Ngāti Hauā otīā i a Te Waharoa. Ka tae tēnei ope nui ki Ōhinemutu, ka urutomo ki te pā whakairo, ka marara te iwi, ka wehi ngā tangata, ka oma ētehi, tu ake a Korokai ki te whakararata i ōna tangata, ka pepehāngia e ia āna kupu i a ia e pupuri ana i te pōwhatu kura, “Ki te mate ahau me mate ahau ki kōnei!” Inā te wewehi o āna kupu kōrero, ka huri te tai o te manawa o ia rangatira o ia rangatira, ka peia te hoa ngangare i te kaha o Ngai Te Arawa. Ka ora te pā whakairo.

Ka nanakia te roa tō tātau pōwhatu e tū whakahī ana ki Muruika, ā, nā wai, ka horomia ake i te whenua, i kōtamutamungia rānei e te hunga mahi rori hai mētara kia tika ai te takoto o te rori.

Kai te tau kotahi mano, e waru rau, e waru tekau mā wha, ka tīpakongia he pīhi whenua hai aha? Hai whakatū whare karakia mō te iwi me te hāhi o te ao hou.

Ka karangangia a Tuhoto Ariki, he tohunga nō te ao o ngā tuatahi, māna te whenua e whakawatea, māna te whenua e whakaea e pai ai te haereere noa o te tangata, he ahakoa he rangatira, he ahakoa he tūtūā.

Oti kau i a Tuhoto Ariki te whakatika i te whenua hai whenua noa, ka timatangia te hangahanga whare karakia hou. Engari ko tō tātau tohunga, koia tera i horomia ake i te pakarutanga o Rotomahana, ā, ka iti ki mua, ka takahia e ia te ara o Taneuawhiti.

Engari anō a Muruika, e tū tonu ana i ēnei rangi hai whare whakatau i te marea o te ao, whaihoki hai whakaruruhau mō ngā amokura nui o Ngai Te Arawa, kai te kōpū o Muruika rātau e takoto ana, e titiro ana, e whakarongo ana ki a tātau kia tika ai ngā mahi kia kāua te waka e hoki ki te waha o te Parata.

English Translation

Where the present St Faiths Church stands today is a humble piece of land called Muruika. The space features significantly in Te Arawa history and, more so, to the people of Ngāti Whakaue.

James Cowan recorded that beyond the present whare karakia stood the kāinga of Korokai, a great rangatira. The name of the whare was Matapihi.

Also, within the ancient pā site was the famed pataka known as Tatuawetekina, a storehouse always packed with kai to cater to the manuhiri who may call in on the people unexpectedly.

Throughout the ages many kāinga stood upon this marvellous site, stone tuahu were also known to be in the area.

When the rangatira Te Rakau the hero of Mokoia, passed away, he was interred in his waka near an ancient flax clump named Te Motu Tapu facing Te Rua o Peka.

Of all the tremendous past items of chieftainess that once occupied the site near Muruika was the famous sacred stone, red in colour, erected by the long-ago explorer Ihenga.

The location itself is said to have been upon the area of land called Waikareao, and another site is known as Rutau, which stands to the west of Waikareao, standing on the edge of the lake.

The stone was dedicated to Hinetekakara, who had her life taken by unsavoury characters of the time, intent on claiming the area as their own.

It was this great powhatu that, during the invasion of Te Waharoa in 1836, saved the site from being overwhelmed.

In a panicked frenzy, as the Arawa were near being overwhelmed by the Ngāti Haua, the venerable chief Korokai made one last plea to his people, throwing his arms around the old stone, he called out: “Let me die on this sacred soil”.

A drone’s eye view of Muruika where St Faith’s Anglican church stands.

So inspiring were his words that it was enough to rally the Arawa, who promptly repelled the invaders.

Sadly, the outcome of the venerated powhatu is typical of the time; some recorded that it was collected and converted to road metal, while another story has it that it was unceremoniously buried.

In 1884 part of Muruika was set aside to build a new place of worship, a new church Te Hahi o Te Whakapono—one of the last great Tohunga of Te Arawa, Tuhoto Ariki was fetched from Te Wairoa to perform the uplifting ceremonies to release the entire site of sacredness, allowing for the establishment of a new building suitable for general use. It is interesting to think that once this grand ceremony had taken place, the commencement of the new construction of worship was speedily undertaken, and the Bishops of the Church then overlaid a new form of sacredness.

Not long after this mammoth undertaking Tuhoto Ariki passed away after the eruption of 1886, followed by the death of Tumakoha Te Whanapipi, the last pure tohunga of Te Arawa and so the Arawa moved into the new world under a religion and new spiritual leaders.

Muruika now holds the rangatira of Rotorua and News Zealands past within its soil, a final resting place that reminds the township of its regal past.