Parawai Pa.
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
See below for English translation
Ko Tamatekapua te rangatira o Te Arawa e mea ana ngā pakeke ko ia te kapua tāingoingo, anō hoki koia ko Tamatekapua ringa whenako ki te aha, ki te aha.
Nāna ko Tūhoromatakaka me Kahumatamomoe he rangatira hoki rāua.
Katoa rātou i whakatere waka mai i Hawaiki ki te whenua i hīa ake e Māuitakitaki-o-te-rā ki te whenua i kitea ai e Kuperaurukoata.
Na Kupe i tapangia ai tēnei whenua ko Aotearoa. He tuakana, he taina a Tūhoromatakaka me Kahumatamomoe, āe ka tutū te pūehu i ētehi wā, he pūhaehae, he wahine, he whenua anō ngā take.
Tērā tētehi wā he māra kai kē te take i whati ai a Tūhoromatakaka me tōna matua tāne me tā rātou hūnuku i Maketu, ka ahu atu ki Hauraki, nā wai ki Moehau, ā, ko ētehi o rātou i horomia ake i ngā whenua o te Tai Tokerau me Hauraki. Ka noho a Kahumatamomoe i Maketu i Whitingakongako.
Ka huri ngā kaupeka ka tae tana potiki ko Ihenga ki te whakatāpae i te tapu o te matenga o tōna mātua tāne kia ea ai nā reira i mōhio ai a Kahumatamomoe kua hemo tōna tuakana. Ko Ihenga te whakapakanga a Tūhoromatakaka.
Ka moe a Ihenga i a Hinetekakara he tamāhine nā Kahumatamomoe ko te take he muri aroha engari anō pea he maunga rongo ki te whakakotahi i ngā kāwai rangatira nei.
E ai ki ngā kaumatua ko Ihenga, he waewae hakoke, ko Ihenga he tangata taunaha whenua, ā, ko Ihenga he tohunga tapatapa whenua, tangata pakiki, tangata ngākau māia hoki. Ka ea katoa ngā taumahatanga kua mahea ngā tapu, ka puta a Kahumatamomoe kia kitea e ia ngā whenua ki tuawhenua.
Rokohanga atu e pupū ake ana ngā wai ariki o te takiwā Rotorua. Ki runga o Taupiri ka whakatū he pā maioro ko Ihingarangi te ingoa. Ki raro iho o Ihingarangi ko te moana nui ko Te Rotorua nui a Kahumatamomoe e hora ake nā, ā, ka whakahīhī te koroua nei, ka whakawhiti ki rāwāhi o te moana ka tae ki Parawai nāna i tapangia ai hai māharatanga ki te waerenga kai i Maketu.
Kātahi ka tūponongia ki a Tuarotorua, he whānaunga rāua, he rangatira hoki a Tuarotorua ko Marupunganui tōna matua tāne, he rangatira i mā runga mai i te waka o Te Arawa.
Nā Ihenga a Tuarotorua i whakanoho atu ki te moutere i te moana, ka kī atu a Kahumatamomoe ki a Tuarotorua, 'Ka nui taku whakamihi ki a koe e te rangatira, tēnā nōhia taku whenua e noho mai nā koe ki Te Motu tapu a Kahu'.
Katahi ka puta te hiahia ki te hoki atu ki Whitingakongako otīā ki Maketu.
Ka mā Ōhau te pahi ka puta ki Te Waimimi-o-Kawa, ka iti e haere ana ka ū rātou ki tetehi wāhi i kataina ai a Kahumatamomoe e āna mokopuna, e kaukau ana pea ka kitea ōna kūwhā ka tapangia ko Kūwhārua-o-Kahu.
Hikitia ai ngā waka kai te whenua e haere ana.
Ka hinga ko Te Taheke he kaha nō ngā pinakitanga, ka piki, ka heke, ka heke, ka piki, ka puta ki te mānia ka tapangia ai ko Te Toanga nā te kaha tō haere ai i ngā waka kōpapa. Ka roa e haere ana, ka whakatū whare, ka tapangia te whenua ko Te Whare-pakau-wawe-a-Kahumatamomoe.
Aonga ake, ka tere anō te pahi, ka hinga tētehi puke, ka takahia ngā mānia, me he ngākau honuwai hoki he ahakoa he pahi pakeke tokorua hoki ngā mokopuna o taua pahi ko Tamaihutoroa me Uenukumairarotonga.
Nā ēnei tokorua ka hua ake anō ētehi wāhi tapu e mau tonu nei i a tātou ngā uri o Ngāi Te Arawa. Tāria te roanga ake.
Tamatekapua was one of the most audacious chiefs of the Arawa people.
He had two sons who continued the legacy of their father and grandfather.
Tūhoromatakaka was the elder, and Kahumatamomoe the younger.
These two chiefs were also ocean explorers who travelled from Hawaiki to what we today call New Zealand. Of course, like all siblings, there will be periods of rivalry, which was the case with these two young men.
One particular dispute proved so severe that it resulted in the departure of Tūhoromatakaka and his father Tamatekapua from Maketu. He was leaving the sea shore area and village of Whitingakongako to the young chief Kahumatamomoe.
One day a young man arrived to visit Kahumatamomoe. It was Ihenga, the youngest son of Tuhoromatakaka. Ihenga had made the journey to his Uncle in the hope of being released from the rituals he had performed over his father's corpse.
With the arrival of Ihenga, Kahumatamomoe was informed that his brother had passed.
Automatically he declared the entire courtyard sacred, and under no circumstance was the restriction to be broken until the cleansing process of Ihenga had been completed.
Ihenga, in time, would marry the daughter of Kahumatamomoe, Hinetekakara. Together these two would venture deep into the central north island making fantastic discoveries before returning with news of their adventures. Ihenga, in honour of his Uncle, named the great body of water he had discovered in recognition of his Uncle Kahumatamomoe.
Eventually, the desire to explore these new lands became too great for Kahumatamomoe to ignore. With a group of curious hearts, his group departed Maketu and followed the trail used by Ihenga and Hinetekakara.
After a long time, they saw steam rising to the sky in the distance. They knew that they had arrived at the lands discovered by Ihenga. At last, the group broke from the forest and beheld the great ocean of water that lay before them, upon Taupiri he built a pā and named it Ihingarangi and from here he would overlook the ocean named in his honour by Ihenga.
Te Rotorua nui a Kahumatamomoe.
They eventually made their way to the western side of the water. They erected a temporary village at a fertile site that they named Parawai in memory of the garden that lay at Maketu.
After a time, Kahumatamomoe came across another chief, Tuarotorua, the son of Marupunganui; after exchanging greetings, Tuarotorua was advised that he could stay and occupy the island in the middle of the lake where he was placed earlier by Ihenga.
'You may remain upon the grand island of Kahu', were the words of this chief, and he continued on his way.
The heart now longed to return to Maketu to the warmth of the sea shore. Travelling by way of Ohau, they moved over the body of water known today as Te Waimimi o Kawa; in need of a rest, they disembarked at a spot where Kahumatamomoe de-robed to enjoy the clear water.
From this episode, the site was named Kūwhārua-o-Kahumatamomoe; when well rested, they continued over land, moving up and down the hills; the area was named Te Taheke before coming out at a location they called Te Tōanga, so named as a reminder of them having to haul their waka over land. Again they needed to rest and hastily erected a series of temporary shelters.
The site was named Te Whare-pakau-wawe-a-Kahumatamomoe, so-called as their whare were quickly put together using the tufted ground fern growing abundantly in the area.
This journey would continue for a few more weeks, but as they continued, they began naming and creating sites of importance, which we will explore in the following weeks.
'This decision has not been made lightly'.