Kāhu ki Rotorua: Ngahue fulfils destiny with stone of Poutini

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See below for English translation

Ka riro i a Ngahue te mana o te pounamu

Ka ū mai a Kupe me tona taokete a Ngahue ki te whenua i hīa ake e Māui.

He whaiwhai noa i ngā takahanga o Poutini me Te Wheke a Ruamuturangi te take i tae mai ai rātou. Ka riro i a Ngahue te mana o te pounamu nā Poutini ia i ako ki ngā tikanga me ngā karakia.

Ka heke iho tēnei mātauranga ki ōna uri. Ka riro i a Kupe me Ngāhue te papa pounamu ka hoki rāua ki Hāwaiki. Ka harikoa ngā tangata o te iwi ki te pōwhatu, ka tāreia e Ngahue he toki, ko Tūtāuru, ko Hauhau-ki-te-rangi, whaihoki ko te whakakai taringa.

Ka tapangia e Ngahue te papa kōwhatu ko Kaukaumatua. Ko te take o tenei tapanga.

Ko Matua nā te mea koia te papa matua o ēnei taonga rangatira katoa, ko kaukau he
maharatanga ki te awa o Arahura ko te wāhi i kitea ai te papa pounamu.

Ko te whakakai taringa he taurite kaha ki te kai rangatira katoa o Hāwaiki ki te kuru.

Nā Ngahue te whakakai, ka hemo ai ka heke iho ki a Houmaitawhiti, nā wai ki a Tamatekapua. Ka taka te wā ka heke iho a Kaukaumatua ki a Kahumatamomoe he tamaiti whakapakanga nā Tamatekapua. E whakatetetete ana ngā tokorua a Tama. Ko Tūhoromatakaka me Kahumatamomoe.

E takaoreore ana, ka motukia e Tūhoromatakaka te mōtoi i te hoi taringa o Kahumatamomoe. Ka tanumia ki raro i te pihanga o Whitingakongako kai ētehi ko Te Awheoterangi kē.

Kua pakaru te hamuti i te kāinga e mea ana te pepehā e kore e nguengue te tokorua ngārara ki te maunga kotahi. Ka wehe kino nei a Tamatekapua me tana mātāmua ko Tūhoromatakaka i whakateraro rāua ki Te Moengāhau ki reira noho atu ai, ka noho a Kahumatamomoe i Maketu.

Nō te matenga o Tūhoromatakaka ka tatū a Ihenga ki te pā o tona matua tāne kaokaoroa ki a Kahumata-momoe, ka karia ake te kuru rearea ka kawea e Ihenga te mōtoi nei ki tōna ariki. Nā reira i mōhio ai a Kahu kua mate tona tuakana.

Ka whakamanuwhiringia te pahi o Ihenga e Kahumatamomoe ka oti nga whakamihimihi ka whakamoea e Kahumatamomoe tana tamāhine hai hoa rangatira mō Ihenga, ka moe rāua. Nā wai rā ka riro a Kaukaumatua i a Hinetekakara.

Hai maunga o te rongo.

Kuru fruit.

Ka mate a Hinetekakara ka tanumia tōna tupapaku ki runga o Taupiri ki runga o Mokoia. Ka heke iho te kuru ki te matua wahine o Tūtānekai ki a Rangiuru, nā wai rā ka heke iho ki a Tūtānekai ka noho ake ki tēnei kāwai whakapapa otia ki ngā rangatira o Ngai Tūhourangi.

Kāore e tino kōrerongia ana i pēwhea i riro atu ai ki te whare tapu o Te Heuheu engari ka tae ki Te Heuheu nui. Horomia ake tēnei ariki i te horonga whenua o Te Rapa ka heke iho te kuru tapu ki tana tamaiti ki a Horonuku.

Nō te wā o te Pākehā tēnei ariki. Nā wai ka heke iho ki tana tamāhine, kai tēnei wā tonu ka ngaro atu oti tā tātou kuru.

Kai te kī ētehi kai te moana o Taupō kai te papa o te moana e takoto ana he mea taka iho i te kaki o te tamahine nōna e kauhau ana i te moana.

Nō reira kai te pī whakamau taringa te taonga kāmehameha onamata te ngongoro tangiwai o te ao tawhito. Takoto e oki.

Kupe and his brother-in-law, Ngahue, travelling in their sea-faring vessels with their families arrived; they too came in search of the stone of Poutini.

Ngahue would acquire the mana of sacred knowledge bequeathed to him from Poutini hence his adherence to the Tikanga of the tuahanga and his proficiency and, in time also, his descendants in the working of pounamu.

That is the appropriate karakia, the correct formulas and observances.

When Kupe and Ngahue had successfully secured the pounamu, they returned to Hawaiki. Ngahue displayed the stone, which he formed into many great treasures including adzes such as Tūtāuru as well as ornaments.

This great block that Ngahue had acquired he named Kaukau-matua. Matua as it was the parent that formed many things, and Kaukau due to the process of searching and extracting the stone from the Arahura river.

The pendant he fashioned was of the kuru type because it was shaped like the berry kuru, the edible fruit of Hawaiki. Ngahue wore it, and it lay with him; when he passed, it would come into the hands of Houmaitawhiti, the father of Tamatekapua who would come into possession of it.

Eventually, Kaukaumatua was given to Kahumatamomoe, the younger son of Tamatekapua.

Sadly the two brothers would fight, and the earring would be torn away from the ear lobe of Kahumatamomoe by Tūhoromatakaka. In time, he would bury the pendant below the window sill of Whitingakongako.

Kuru pounamu.

When Tūhoromatakaka died Ihenga felt sad that his father and uncle were estranged. With the wishes and instructions of his father still fresh in his heart, Ihenga travelled to his Uncle to be purified; his father had dug up Kaukaumatua and given it to Ihenga to present to his Uncle as a gift.

When Ihenga arrived at the village of Kahumatamomoe and was presented with the taonga he knew that his brother had passed. As the speeches started, Kahumatamomoe gave his daughter to Ihenga as a wife, and Kaukaumatua was given to Hinetekakara; some say it ended the feud between the two brothers.

Kaukaumatua then stayed with Hinetekakara until her body was buried upon Taupiri; Tūtānekai's mother eventually took up the heirloom; therefore, in time, it came into the possession of Tūtānekai himself.

When he was surprised and killed in his citadel of Te Whetengū his widow Hinemoa then cared for the heirloom where it would eventually stay with the chiefs of Ngai Tuhourangi before coming into the care of the Heuheu rangatira of Tuwharetoa, who was sadly killed in a landslide at his kāinga.

Finally, Horonuku, the son of the deceased ariki, came into possession of Kaukaumatua, he passed it to his daughter and it is here that the item is lost.

Whilst his daughter was swimming in Lake Taupō lake off Te Rapa at the South West corner, the prized treasure was lost to the depths of the moana.

The last surviving taonga from this ancient block is the great toki, Tūtāuru the famous adze used to shape the ocean travelling vessel, Te Arawa. That is next week's story.