KAHUNGUNU

Porou-Ariki and Tahu-Matua

INTRO: To fully appreciate the southern boundaries of Ngai Tamanuhiri one must have some knowledge of the wider history and the oral traditions of Turanga-tangata-rite. It also requires a basic understanding of the whakapapa-lines that underpin the whanau alliances in the area. Tahu Potiki’s arrival at the Turanganui river heralded a new era in iwi development. Tahu’s crossing saw a simple fishing rock ‘Te Toka-a-Taiau’ suddenly symbolise a ‘line in the sand’ between the tuakana and the teina.. To the north Porou-Ariki and his whanau claim absolute-mana with a very catchy… “mai Potikirua tae noa ki Te Toka-a-Taiau”. Porou and Tahu were born and raised at Whangara. After the trouble between these brothers (over Hamo) and the demise of Porou-Ariki himself, Tahu settled at Turanganui with his new wife (and brothers widow) Hamoterangi. However the people of Turanganui are linked to both brothers by whakapapa...

KAHUNGUNU
Ira-a-Tahu is another son of Tahu who settles around Turanga. He has Iraroa, who marries Tokerau-Wahine (granddaughter of Porou). Iraroa and Tokerau-Wahine had a daughter called Iwipupu who marries Tamatea-Pokaiwhenua of Takitimu. Together they have Kahungunu, who thus inherits Tahu whakapapa. Obviously that whakapapa passes to his uri like Kahukuranui, Tauhei, Tamatea-Koata, Mahaki, Rakaihikuroa, Rakaipaaka, Hinemanuhiri, Tarakiuta and Tarakitai. All make meaningful contributions to the history of Turanga. If indeed connections to an ancestor are any measure, then let us be measured by Apirana Ngata who makes the following observation in his Rauru Lectures…
Ngati Porou can claim descent from seven out of ten of Kahungunu's children, while the Ngai Tamanuhiri, Rongowhakaata and Te Aitanga a Mahaki of Gisborne are able, so I am informed, to claim from all of them. Yet the tribal name Ngati Kahungunu has as among the East Coast tribes restricted application. It was established in the Wairoa district through Rakaipaaka and Hinemanuhiri, the children of Kahungunu's eldest son Kahukuranui, by his second wife Tuteihonga. In Hawkes Bay the name followed in the wake of Rakaihikuroa and his sons and grandson. Thence by sundry migrations and intermarriages the name extended until it superseded other tribal appellations in the territory south of Hawkes Bay.

Whakapapa to Kahungunu from Paikea-Ariki