Manawa Kāi TahuKo Te Waiata a Paikea mō Ruatapu

Stories of Kāi Tahu Tipuna – Our Language, Our People, Our Place, Our Culture
nā Tahu Potiki
Ko Te Waiata a Paikea mō Ruatapu

Ko pikopiko noa,
Haereere noa,
Whatitata ra te taku tai,
Koua kite ano i te iwi no paraowa,
Mauria mai nei hei patu teiha, hei heru tei taha,
Manaakitia mai nei e Uenuku, hei tohu mōna nei e.

Hoki rawa mai nei kua he te iringa o te heru,
Ae ui ra ki te poupou o te whare; kāore te ki mai te waha,
Ae ui ra ki te maihi o te whare; kāore te ki mai te waha,
Ae ui ra ki te tuarongo o te whare; kāore te ki mai te waha,
Ae ui ra ki te tiki nei, kia Kahutiatērā ngi,
kei whea taku heru.

Tēnā ka riro i te tahae, poriro, tiraumoko nei, moenga rau nei,moenga raukawakawa nei.
Ka mate tērā i te whakama,
Ka hiko ki tōna waka kia Tūtepewarangi nei,
Ka hoe ki waho ki te moana e,
Ka unuhia te koremu.
Ka mate i reira e Pipi,
Ka mate i reira Tahau,
Ka mate i reira Te Ata O Tūmahina nei, Matariki Kakau I Te Ata nei e.

Ki mai Ruatapu, “ma wai e kawe nga tohu ora ki uta?”,
Ki mai Paikea, “ka tae i ahau, tateha ika, tateha ure”,
Ka u Paikea ki uta tauhanga mai ai ki a Ruatapu,
E te iwa nei e,
E te ngahuru nei e,
E te ngahuru pōtiki nei e,

Tērā Ruatapu kei te whakakewa i te moana e takoto mai nei,
Te hiwinga nei e te maihi nei, e te marara nei e,
Pokia iho nei te puke ki Hikurangi,
Tūtū noa ana Marere Ao Tonga, kia mau.

Paikea is a renowned ancestor with particular importance to iwi who can trace their descent from the east coast of the North Island. Ngāti Porou have perhaps the greatest claim to the Paikea traditions, but certainly Ngāti Kahungunu and Kāi Tahu also recognise Paikea as an ancestor of great significance. Not all the traditions align exactly, but it is clear that Paikea was one of the primary Hawaiki figures who Kāi Tahu descend from, and he can be found personified within the wharenui Maru Kaitātea upon Takahanga Marae in Kaikōura. Also, his father, Uenuku, and mother, Wairutuātai, are remembered in the wharenui and wharekai at Moeraki.

The Story of Paikea

Uenuku was a great chief in Hawaiki. He had been victorious in the great wars with Tawheta and now reigned supreme with a large and prosperous tribe. One day a villager named Whatitata was walking on the beach when he came across a beached whale. Recognising the value of the precious bone Whatitata collected some of the choicest pieces to fashion into implements and jewellery. As a sign of respect for his chief, Whatitata presented Uenuku with two treasures – a whalebone club and comb.

Due to their rare beauty, Uenuku truly valued the gifts and displayed them on the inside wall of his house. One day Uenuku returned to the village from a journey and immediately noticed that his whalebone treasures had been disturbed. This angered Uenuku and he was particularly furious that someone had tampered with his comb; because a comb is directly associated with the head, which is the most sacred part of a chief’s body.

“Who has disturbed my comb?” he cried, but nobody answered. So he turned to the carvings and the decorations of his house. “Who has disturbed my comb?” he asked the walls of the house, but received no answer. Over and over again he asked the carved posts, and then the roof, but still no one answered until he turned to his ancestor, Kahutia-te-raki, who was carved into the gable of the house.

Uenuku was told the person who had tampered with his comb was Ruatapu, his son by a prisoner wife. Still enraged, Uenuku let loose a tirade of abuse and insults directed at Ruatapu referring to his lowly status and illegitimate birth.

Ruatapu was deeply shamed by his father’s accusations and rejection, and he immediately began to plot his revenge. He secured the use of a large canoe called Tutepewaraki and invited all of his older brothers and the rest of the village’s high-born children to come sailing on its maiden voyage. The young people consented and Ruatapu took the canoe out to the open ocean.

Once he was far enough away from land, Ruatapu pulled the wooden plug from the bilge of the canoe. The canoe rapidly filled with water. It sank and all the high-born children on board drowned. The only survivors were Ruatapu and his tuakana Paikea.

Perhaps overwhelmed by his actions, Ruatapu asked who would carry the signs of remaining life back to land and warn the people that he intended to send ocean storms to devastate their island home. Paikea replied that he would carry the signs to the people and he was transported back to his village.

Ruatapu had told Paikea that he would send a great sea in the months of late autumn. The people who believed the message that Paikea brought climbed to the summit of Hikuraki mountain at that time. Ruatapu did send a great storm, and three enormous waves swamped the island. The only survivors were those at the top of the mountain. The people of Kāi Tahu are all descended from Uenuku and Paikea, two of the survivors who heeded Ruatapu’s warning.

The Kāi Tahu traditions differ somewhat from those of Ngāti Porou, and this has been the subject of considerable debate over the generations. Kāi Tahu whakapapa records Porouraki as a nephew of Tahu Pōtiki and an ancestor of the Kāti Māmoe chiefs Tukiauau and Te Rakitamau. Very little detail is known about Tahu Pōtiki, but his descendants migrated from the Gisborne region after conflicts forced them firstly to Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa and Wellington Harbour before the Kāi Tahu hapū of Kāi Tūhaitara and Kāti Kurī crossed over to conquer and settle most of Te Waipounamu.

According to Kāi Tahu whakapapa, Paikea had two sons. The eldest was Whatiua Te Ramarama and the youngest was Tahu Pōtiki. Whatiua Te Ramarama married Hemo and had three children: Porouraki, Maruwahine and Poraetipa. Whatiua was killed in an accident at a fishing ground called Toka Tikitiki, and Tahu Pōtiki, followng the putao tradition, took his brother’s wife as his own. Tahu and Hemo also had three children called Iratahu, Iratūhoe and Iramanwapiko.

The traditional saying that recalls these marriages states: “There were three children from the older sibling, three children from the younger sibling but there were six from Hemo, their wife.”

He tīpuna rokonui a Paikea mō kā iwi i ahu mai i Te Tai Rāwhiti o Te Ika a Maui. Āpea ko Kāti Porou te iwi e kaha ana ki te mea atu tō rātou takinga mai i a Paikea ekari ko Kāti Kahukunu, ko Kāi Tahu hoki kā iwi anō i mea atu nō Paikea nui tonu rātou. Ahakoa he rereke kā tātai kōrero o tēnā iwi, o tēnā iwi mō Paikea he tipuna tino taketake ia ki a Kāi Tahu. Kai rō te wharenui o Marukaitātea, kai Takahaka ia e tū ana. Kai Moeraki tōna hākoro rāua ko tōna hākui e tū ana hai wharenui, hai wharekai, arā ko Uenuku rāua ko Wairutuātai.

He Kōrero Mō Paikea

I tōna wā ko Uenuku te ariki o Hawaiki. Ko ia hoki te takata nāhana tāna tino hoariri a Tāwheta i patu rawa kia mate, ā, kia waiho ake kā iwi katoa o Hawaiki hai pōri māhana ko Uenuku kai ruka.

Ko Whatitata tētahi nō te iwi o Uenuku i hīkoi noa ki tātahi, rokohina atu, e pae ana te tohorā. Nāhana i unu te parāoa kia taraia hai patu, hai heru mō tōna ariki a Uenuku.

I manaaki kaha a Uenuku i kā taoka nā Whatitata i homai, nā reira ia i whakaatu ai ērā ki te pātū o tōna whare. Nāwai rā i haere a Uenuku ki wāhi kē, ā, ka hoki mai ko hē te āhua o āna taoka. I te mea nā tētahi tōna heru i raweke, ā, he tapu hoki nō te heru, i patu rawa a Uenuku ki te takariri nui.

Ka ui atu ia ki te poupou o tōna whare “Nā wai tōku heru i raweke?” ā, kāore tahi te whakautu. Ka ui tou atu ia ki te maihi me te tuaroko o te whare ekari kāore tou te whakautu. Kātahi ka ui atu rā a Uenuku ki te tiki o tōna whare ki tōna tipuna ko Kahutiatērāki.

Ka mea atu te tipuna rā ki a Uenuku “Nā Ruatapu i raweke”. I te mea kāore a Ruatapu i aitia ki ruka i te takapau wharanui i kīmōkai pēnei atu a Uenuku ki tāna tama, “He pōriro, he tīraumoko, he moeka raukawakawa koe.”

Ko mate rawa a Ruatapu ki te whakamā i kā kupu a Uenuku, a, ka pōraki ia ka pēhea ia ka kakī i taua kōrero. Ka riro i a ia tētahi waka nunui ko Tūtepewaraki te ikoa. Ka tono atu a Ruatapu ki ōna tuākana, āna taina katoa kia eke mai ki ruka i taua waka.

Ka ū atu ki te au moana. Kātahi ia ka unu atu te koremu kia toremi ai te waka, kia mate ai kā tamariki rakatira katoa o te kāika o Uenuku.
Ko Ruatapu rāua ko Paikea anake kā mōrehu.

Āpea ko pouri a Ruatapu i tāna mahi kohuru nā reira ia i tono atu me te pātai, “Mā wai e kawe kā tohu ora ki uta?” I mea atu a Ruatapu hai te Kahuru Pōtiki māhana e tuku atu te marakai nui rawa kia waipukehia te motu.

Nā Paikea i whakautu māhana hei kawe i kā tohu ki uta. Nā reira te taniwha i kawe a Paikea ki te kāika o Uenuku.

I hoatu a Ruatapu i te kōrero whakatūpato ki a Paikea mō te whatika o kā karu nunui hei te Kahuru ka pakaru mai. I mea atu a Paikea ki tōna iwi ka haere mai kā karu heoti anō ko ētahi i whakapono ko ētahi kāore i whakapono. Ko kā tākata i whakapono nā rātou te mauka o Hikuraki i piki hai oraka mō rātou. Ko rātou kāore i whakapono i mate rawa i kā karu. Ko tātou te iwi o Kāi Tahu te toiora i heke mai i a Uenuku rāua ko Paikea, tokorua o kā mōrehu i whakapono atu i te ōhākī a Ruatapu.

E pēnei ana te kōrero whakapapa o Kāi Tahu mō Paikea.

Kei te ki atu ko Uenuku te tipuna i putake mai. Nā Uenuku ko Paikea, nā Paikea ko Whatiua (tō mua), ko Tahu Pōtiki (tō muri). Nā Whatiua ka moe i a Hemo ka puta ko Porouraki, ko Maruwahine, ko Pōraetipa.

Ka mate a Whatiua i a Toka Tikitiki. He toka (tauranga) hapuku tēnei. Ka noho a Hemo i a Tahu Pōtiki ka puta ki waho ko Iratahu, ko Iratūhoe, ko Iramanawapiko. Tokotoru o te tuakana, tokotoru o te taina. Ko te tokoono tēnei a Hemo.

He rereke kā kōrero a Kāi Tahu ki tā Ngāti Porou kōrero mō tēnei tipuna, ā, ko ia te pūtake mō kā taukumekume nui i waekanui i kā iwi. Ki tā Kāi Tahu kōrero ko Porouraki te tīpuna o kā rakatira Kāti Māmoe arā ko Tukiauau rāua ko Te Rakitāmau. He iti noa iho kā kōrero mō Tahu Pōtiki i pumautia tonutia e te iwi otirā he nui kā kōrero mō te hekeka mai o āna uri i Tūraka, i Heretauka, i Wairarapa, i Te Whakanui-a-Tara, a, me te whakawhitika mai a Kāi Tūhaitara me Kāti Kurī ki Te Waipounamu nei.