Tamatea Arikinui or Tamatea Mai-Tawhiti was a Māori ariki (chieftain), who captained the Tākitimu canoe on its journey from Hawaiki to New Zealand and became the ancestor of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi. J. H. Mitchell places Tamatea in the mid-fourteenth century.[1]
In Ngāti Kahungunu tradition, he is distinguished from his grandson Tamatea Urehaea who undertook extensive explorations of New Zealand. Northland and Tauranga traditions say that they were the same person.[2]
Background
editA Ngāti Kahungunu account of the Tākitimu is given by J. H. Mitchell, according to whom the explorer Hoaki and his bother Taukata had travelled to New Zealand from Hawaiki in the Tutara-kauika, searching for their sister Kanioro, who had been abducted and taken there by Pou-rangahau. They returned in the Te Ara-Tawhao seeking kumara seeds and bearing the news that the islands were sparsely populated.[3] This inspired Tamatea, the Arikinui ("great chieftain"), who led the tribes of Ngāti Hukumoana, Ngāti Hakuturi, and Ngāti Tutakahinahina, which lived in the villages of Whangara, Pakarae, and Rehuroa, to build a canoe and lead a migration to New Zealand.[4]
Construction and launching
edit
Tamatea ordered the construction of Tākitimu. It was made by three craftsmen, called Ruawharo, Tupai, and Te Rongo Putahi. The initial work was done on Titirangi hill, the later work at Tamatea's house in Whangara.[4] Four stones, Kohurau, Ka-ra, Anewa, and Pounamu were used to make five adzes, named Te Awhiorangi, Tewhironui, Rakuraku o Tawhaki, Matangirei, and Hui-te-rangiora. Te Awhiorangi, the most sacred of these adzes, was used by Tamatea to ceremonially cut through the waves, clearing the way for the canoe to travel over the sea.[5] The canoe was first roughly shaped at Titirangi hill and then taken to Tamatea's house at Whangara, where the carving was completed in an extremely sacred enclosure which was off limits to women and commoners.[4] The craftsmen and their tools had to be specially purified in water when their work was over; J. H. Mitchell records the karakia sung by the tohunga (high priest) during this work.[4] All the chips and sawdust from the canoe had to be ritually burnt, because it was too sacred to be used for any other purpose.[4]
Tamatea and Ruawharo consecrated the Tākitimu by singing a karakia which J. H. Mitchell records and pouring a calabash of water over the bow. Then four rollers, called Te Tahuri, Mounukuhia, Mouhapainga, and Manutawhiorangi were used to launch the canoe into the Pikopiki-i-whiti lagoon.[6] After this, it was taken in the night to Te-whetu-Matarau and the tohunga Ruawharo cast various protective spells for the boat, one of which J. H. Mitchell records.[7]
Description and crew
editThe Takitimu was a large, single-rigger canoe.[8] It consisted of rauawa (boards attached above the hull), haumi (extensions to the front and back of the boat), taumanu (thwarts), a kāraho or rahoraho (deck), a tauihu (figurehead), rapa (sternpost), whitikotuku (frame for an awning), tira (masts), puhi (plumes of feathers), kārewa (buoys) and hoe (paddles). The canoe had six ceremonial paddles: Rapanga-i-te-atinuku, Rapanga-i-te-ati-rangi, Maninikura, Maniniaro, Tangiwiwini, and Tangi-wawana.[4] There were two bailers: Tipuahoronuku and Tipuahororangi.[4]
At the front of the canoe there was a space for the sacred objects in which the atua (gods) of the people resided.[4] These objects represented Ranginui (the sky) and Paptuanuku (the Earth).[9] The objects also represented a number of spirits that protected the Takitimu on its voyage:[10]
- Two tipua Ruamano and Te Araiteuru,
- Four pakake (whales): Hine-korito, Hine-kotea, Hine-makehu, and Hine-huruhuru
- Three taniwha: Te Wehenga kauika, Rua-riki and Maurea
- Tunui-e-te-Ika, Te Po-tuatini, Moko and other spirits.
The Takitimu was too sacred for women, commoners, children, or cooked food to be allowed onto it, so the crew consisted entirely of prestigious men:[5]
- Tamatea Arikinui, the captain of the canoe until it reached Tauranga, who had his seat at the stern and held the ceremonial paddles Rapanga-i-te-atinuku and Rapanga-i-te-ati-rangi.[5]
- Ruawharo, the main tohunga, who had his seat at the bow and held the ceremonial paddles Maninikura and Maniniaro.[4]
- Tupai, brother of Ruawharo, another tohunga, who held the ceremonial paddles Tangiwiwini and Tangi-wawana.[4]
- Tahu Pōkai, ancestor of Ngāi Tahu, the captain of the canoe after it reached Tauranga.
Journey to New Zealand
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Tākitimu travelled from Hawaiki to Rarotonga in three days. J. H. Mitchell follows Percy Smith in making the ship part of the Great Fleet, but says that because it was a single-rigger canoe, it proved faster than the rest of the canoes and left them behind. Tākitimu made the journey from Rarotonga to New Zealand in only eleven days. A shortage of food forced the crew to pray to Tangaroa and Tāne, who provided them with raw fish and birds to eat.[8]
The Tākitimu arrived at Awanui at the base of the Aupōuri Peninsula in Northland. Some members of the crew settled in this location, but Tamatea led most of the crew continued around North Cape, and along the east coast of the North Island until they reached Tauranga. Here Tamatea left the Tākitimu, entrusting the command to Tahu, whom he instructed to find a source of pounamu or greenstone (nephrite jade).[11]
As Tākitimu travelled along the east coast, the crew stopped at various locations and gave them names. These included Hikurangi, named after a mountain on Hawaiki, Whāngārā, and the Pakarae River.[12] Titirangi hill in modern Gisborne was named after the hill on which the Tākitimu had been built.[12] The tohunga on the Tākitimu conducted fire rituals that placed the mauri (life force) of their traditional knowledge in the land at locations which later became the sites of whare wānanga (centres of traditional learning).[13]
References
edit- ^ Mitchell 2014, p. 24.
- ^ Taonui 2005, p. 6.
- ^ Mitchell 2014, pp. 27–29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mitchell 2014, p. 31.
- ^ a b c Mitchell 2014, p. 30.
- ^ Mitchell 2014, p. 32.
- ^ Mitchell 2014, pp. 32–33.
- ^ a b Mitchell 2014, p. 40.
- ^ Mitchell 2014, p. 34.
- ^ Mitchell 2014, p. 35.
- ^ Mitchell 2014, pp. 41–42.
- ^ a b Mitchell 2014, p. 42.
- ^ Mitchell 2014, pp. 42–43.
Bibliography
edit- Mitchell, J. H. (2014). Takitimu: A History of Ngati Kahungunu. Libro International. ISBN 978-1-877514-72-2.
- Taonui, Rāwiri (2005). "Canoe traditions". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.