There has been so much controversy over the walking track on Te Mata Peak. Ngati Kahungunu chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana explains why Rongokako is so important to local iwi and why there are so many visual and historic views of it.
I had heard so many stories around our kitchen table when I was growing up, of the feats of Rongokako that I thought there must be numerous Rongokako.
Until it was explained to me by Uncle Boy, Uncle Wi and others that each of our marae sees Rongokako from a different angle hence has a different visual and historic perspective.
Importantly they said, "each version is correct!" So whenever I've been asked to give an account of Rongokako I've stuck to the Waipatu version even in the face of quick dissension and debate as each Marae must tell their own story.
It must be remembered that each migration of settlers from Hawaiki told their stories of landforms, landscapes and other geographic features and were named and renamed by successive arrivals, some just changing tipuna names but keeping the original story. Maui was the first name giver followed by Kupe then Whatonga followed by the Takitimu arrivals and then those born of these lands adding layer on layer of tipuna accounts kept alive in oral traditions which is where I've drawn this korero from.
Back to Waipatu though, Rongokako was the son of Tamatea Arikinui, captain of the Takitimu Waka.
Tamatea stands proudly atop the wharenui Heretaunga, our ancestral house. Rongokako came over on the Takitimu Waka as well, so must have been of youthful vigour and strength to be amongst the most powerful set of navigators, explorers, warriors and sailors. He was a huge 8 foot or so hence, his giant-like size made him a subject of legendary feats that just kept growing. Having reached Aotearoa, he debarked from the Takitimu at Wairarapa and was part of the Whare Wānanga established there by his tohunga Tupai, an expert in karakia.
However, he was a poor student in the classes but excelled in tests of physical and motive dimensions fetching seaweed from islands without a waka and smashing stones with utterances and incantations. His ultimate goal though was in lovemaking but first he had to race for the hand of the northern princess, Muriwhenua, who was living at Hauraki.
Paoa his rival, was a master canoesman and raced ahead on the sea as Rongokako raced along the coastal pathways. Rongokako was well ahead by the time they reached Heretaunga so he stretched out for sleep or "power save" on the Te Mata ranges and that is the silhouette of the "sleeping giant" we can see from the western side of Te Mata.
When he woke, he looked to find that Paoa was rounding the East Cape, so springing into action he took a step onto Cape Kidnappers, leapt onto Te Mahia Peninsula, another bound to Wainui beach north of Gisborne then a hop to the East Cape. Paoa's allies erected a barrier to try to slow Rongokako down but he stumbled instead stubbing his toe on Whakaari, White Island, setting off the volcano there but he recovered his balance and went on to win the hand in romance and marriage of Muriwhenua.
We all descend from this union. As an adventurer from the Pacific isles, he became the intrepid athlete in Aotearoa. His son Tamateapokaiwhenuapokaimoanaurehaea became the first explorer to both circumnavigate the lands and oceans of all of Aotearoa. This a universal story covering the Pacific Ocean, which the Takitimu Waka crisscrossed with regularity over 300 years before Rongokako was a crewmember and came here. That is one of the faces of Rongokako.
There is a sleeping giant in all of us that just needs to be spurred into action to undertake amazing things. This is the essence of Waipatu's Rongokako.
From Waimarama one of the stories is that they see the giant whose name was Te Mata, terrorising and dining on travellers between Heretaunga and Waimarama.
The elders held a summit hui to stop Te Mata from devouring whole communities and again the love card was played as it had been noticed that Te Mata had glances of affection to one of the local beauties called Hinerakau, the forest maiden. Te Mata lived in a cave on Kahuranaki Maunga and was spied on every morning as he emerged to see which direction he would take so that travellers could avoid his pathway. Hinerakau's task was to woo the giant then bend him to her will through a series of tests that would eventually subdue Te Mata. His ultimate test was to eat a passage through the hill to make a better walkway from Waimarama to Heretaunga.
He took a giant bite and choked on the amount of earth he had eaten and died and lies prostrate on the Te Mata range, lying in state which is a reminder that "he whenua, he Wahine, Ka ngaro ai Te tangata - through land and women, man will perish." Hinerakau in her despair threw herself off the cliff to her death. As she leapt, the piece of earth was dislodged from Rongokako's throat and hurled forth to form Motuakura.
The thoroughfare between Waimarama and Heretaunga has been relatively safe since but it is still remembered that those who died at the hand of Te Mata were washed in a stream and spring located at the base of the eastern face of Te Mata near the main road.
From Matahiwi marae Te Mata is the "face or faces in the hillscape" and reflects many tipuna including Rongokako. Rongokako is a direct descendant of Mauitikitiki a Taranga the main tipuna of Matahiwi. Te Mata is a continuum of landscape names from Te Matau a Maui - Maui's Hook, to Te Kauae a Maui, the jawbone of Maui's grandmother which hooked up the Ika Nui a Maui, Cape Kidnappers, connected by the Tukituki river. Te Atahikoia Mohi, an expert in history and whakapapa of the area, says in his waiata Te Mata is "the faces of our people" and reminds us of our history and our potential.
From the Pakipaki Marae, we see Te Mata as "Te Karanemanema o Te Mata o Rongokako - the flashing eyes of the giant Rongokako" referring to the village and campfires burning at night calling the hunters, fishers and gatherers back to the people and pa of Te Mata including Kahurangi, Hikanui and Te Hau and other ancient kainga.
This saying also reflects the ahikaroa or the long burning fires of the people of the land recognising that pre-European most Pa were built in the hills for defensive purposes as the wild tangle of bush, swamps and waterways were undefendable long term. The Heretaunga plains then were almost a no man's land but a hunting, fishing, birding and plant gathering domain of all hapū groups living in the nearby hills. Taraia, Mihiroa and Houngarea were all located in the surrounding foothills of Pakipaki.
Hinerakau, the Forest maiden, or Mt Erin, Rongokako's lover is where both Taraia and Mihiroa were originally located. There are burial caves located on Kohinerakau mainly from the Pakipaki Marae and surrounding pa.
Omahu Marae see Rongokako as the great grandfather of Kahukuranui, the Whare Tipuna of Omahu Marae. Tamatea Arikinui, the commander of the Takitimu Waka begat Rongokako, who begat Tamateapokaiwhenuapokaimoanaurehaea, who begat Kahungunu the eponymous ancestor of this Iwi, who begat Kahukuranui.
Kahuranaki was a renowned lover too and his seduction of Tuteihonga is too raunchy to write about here. Rongokako the giant, is attributed with forming the Tukituki, Ngaruroro and Tutaekuri rivers as one of his tasks was to bring water to Heretaunga bringing fish, birds and other game to the plains area.
He reached his giant fingers into the mountain streams of the Ruahine, Kaweka, and Kaimanawa ranges dragging and scraping with his fingernails the passageways of the three rivers to converge at Heretaunga as previously they had all flowed out to sea around the Wairoa area as the Great Wairarapa River leaving this area prone to droughts and arid summers.
The Ngaruroro once flowed along the Te Mata o Rongokako base joining the Tukituki and Tutaekuri in a huge confluence before spilling into the sea at Waipureku, between Clive and Haumoana, a trading station of inland birds and logs for kumara and kaimoana amongst other things.
From Patangata and Pukehou Marae comes the story of the male mountains of Kauehei and Kahuranaki, in their respective quests to gain in marriage, Kohinerakau (Mt Erin) the Forest maiden. Kohinerakau was having difficulty deciding so she asked Te Mata to arbitrate to see who was more worthy.
Te Mata found that Kahuranaki was the hugest, tallest and most majestic so arranged to have Kahuranaki stay closest to her. Kauehei on the other hand was much more senior and wiser and was given the title "The old man."
Kohinerakau preferred the younger Kahuranaki for his vigour but also Kauehei for his mana. In the meantime, Te Mata had grown obsessed with Kohinerakau. Eventually he reached a solution.
While Kahuranaki could stay closest to Kohinerakau he would be separated by the Tukituki river so he could look but not touch. Kauehei on the other hand could remain on the same side of the river but was moved 15 kilometres to the south so was also out of reach.
Which left Te Mata o Rongokako in joint and permanent contact with Kohinerakau with the other two Maunga looking on in longing and in betrayal.
Ngāti Kere of Porangahau sings of "Nga tapuwae o Rongokako e, I runga Aotearoa hohoro mania, hohoro te whenua tipi nuku tipi rangi e."
It was Rongokako that strode all over Aotearoa, swallowing the land in his wake, striding from the terrestrial to the celestial realms."
The whakapapa they use is straight from Ronogkako rather than his father Tamatea Arikinui.
This is not an exhaustive or definitive narrative from each or all Marae at all but rather a glimpse and brief narrative of the depth and texture of what Te Mata and Rongokako mean to us. Most stories are yet to be told.
In a more modern context, 250 years or so Pre-European, Te Mata o Rongkako was a burial place for our ancestor's bones where they could never be found or disturbed for the deepest breach of tapu was to display or utilise human bones for flutes, needles, knives, spears or fishhooks.
Many burial caves, rock crevices, tomo (sink holes) and other measures on Te Mata were used to hide these taonga from desecration. Many diaries and accounts from the first pakeha inhabitants of Te Mata tell of the hundreds of burial sites and stories related to them by local Māori historians. The excavating, fossicking, pillaging or desecration of these sites was the same as vandalising tombstones of the dead or grave robbing for dirty profit but the breach of tapu placed on those sites had more significance by Māori because makutu and whaiwhaia, which are spells and curses placed on those sites to protect them at those times would now not only fall on the perpetrator of the breaches of tapu but also on the wider families and successive generations to come never ending.
That is why we declare places as Wahi tapu without being specific about "X marks the spot" or why that place is tapu. It's to protect the general public from falling foul of tapu as well as protecting the site itself. So those are the burial or secret sites where places and people need to be away from on Te Mata. Furthermore, there are other sites such as Wahi Tipuna, Wahi toto, Wahi pakanga, and Wahi whakamomori.
These are significant other sites where ancestors gathered for their rituals of sacrifice, ancient battlegrounds where blood was spilt, or where ritual suicides took place.
We are loath to bring definition to these spots due to the negative and possible contagions that these places may ignite because to us it's as if these events occurred yesterday.
And while some might say "bah humbug!" recent history in just my own experience, let alone those of Jerry Hapuku and others, say otherwise. That's why there is such high emotion and keening from the Marae and hapu of Heretaunga.
That's why there is so much angst and turmoil amongst us tangata whenua.
Te Mata is no ordinary Maunga. We all had Tipuna up there suffering the utmost atrocities, brutalities and indignities only 200 years ago. We do not wish to visit any of these ordeals on hikers, bikers, trampers, day-trippers or happy wanderers. Some places need to remain off limits to Māori and pakeha alike.
This is the modern story of Te Mata o Rongokako that the public, Craggy Range Winery, the Hastings District Council and other commentators have just awoken to and from we Māori have known about all the time but no one bothered to ask any of us from any angle or any perspective.
Having said that, I am keen to advance, articulate and help elucidate around the issues although others will take their own views and pathways toward resolution such is what we do.
These are only some of the many faces of Rongokako that still have to be told and need to play out as we seek that sleeping giant within us for inspiration and energy to support our communities and generations yet to be born.