Ko Te Kāwai o Raukawa
Hoturoa
Hotuope
Hotumatapū
Mōtai Tangata Rau
Uetapu
Rakamaomao
Kākati
Tāwhao
Tūrongo = Māhinaarangi
Raukawa
The Story of Tāwhao
Tāwhao married two sisters, Pūnui-a-te-kore the elder, and Maru-tē-hiakina her younger sibling, by whom he had two sons, Tūrongo and Whatihua. Although Tūrongo was born of the elder sister Pūnui-a-te-kore, Whatihua was born slightly before him. These circumstances gave rise to an intense rivalry between the half brothers over which of them held elder brother rights (tuakana) over the other.
Consistent acts of rivalry from Whatihua against his brother Tūrongo are well recorded in Tainui tradition. Whatihua's scheming led him to steal the heart of Ruaputahanga the betrothed wife of Tūrongo by outwitting his brother in a number of incidents in preparing a home.
Tūrongo and Māhinaarangi
Directly after the incident with Ruaputahanga, Tūrongo set out to the East Coast, where he had heard lived a celebrated maiden named Māhinaarangi. She and her people lived in the Kahotea district, near the present-day site of Te Aute College.
When Tūrongo arrived there, a meeting house was being built, he joined the fowlers catching birds in the mountains to feed those working on the building. So adept was he at this work, that Māhinaarangi’s father, Te Angiangi, advised his daughter to take Tūrongo as her husband because he was such a good provider.
Māhinaarangi set out to meet Tūrongo each evening as he returned from his daily labours. She persued her suitor by way-laying him; careful to conseal her identity from Tūrongo, he knew her only by her fragrance, which came from the aromatic perfumed raukawa oil that Māhinaarangi anointed herself with before the encounters. In due course, their budding relationship became public knowledge and was blessed by Te Angiangi and the people. Soon afterwards, Māhinaarangi became pregnant. Tūrongo wished his child to be born on his own land, so he returned to Kāwhia to prepare a house for Māhinaarangi and their new child.
His father, Tāwhao, called his sons together and divided the land between them. The boundary between them is essentially the northern boundary of the King Country today. To the south of it was Tūrongo’s portion and to the north Whaithua’s. In accordance with his decision to separate his children, Tāwhao sent Tūrongo inland to build himself a place. Tūrongo went inland and on a hill named Rangiātea on the south bank of the Manga-o-rongo Stream he settled down to build a home.
Late in her term, Māhinaarangi travelled with a large party through Te Wairoa, Waikaremoana, Rotorua and Tauranga. She was entertained by the local people in each of those places. One account states that Māhinaarangi travelled from Rotorua through Te Kaokaoroa-o-Pātetere until she reached Ōkoroire, near Tīrau, where she felt the birth pains coming on. There, near a hot spring, she gave birth to a son. Remembering the aromatic perfume she had worn during her first meetings with Tūrongo, she named her child Raukawa. She then bathed in the hot spring, which became known as Te Wai Takahanga a Māhinaarangi, or Māhinaarangi’s Bath.
Another account states that Māhinaarangi visited Tauranga after Rotorua and crossed the Kaimai giving birth to Raukawa close in to the western foothills. There Māhinaarangi breast-fed Raukawa, the act being commemorated in the name of Ūkaipō Marae, situated at the beginning of the Arapohatu.
Another variation of this story; heavily laiden Māhinaarangi sought a passage along the east side of the Lower Kaimai ranges following a river until the direction of the water changed course and flowed west. This was an indication to the group that they had arrived at the land of Tūrongo in which they gave the name “Whenua-a-kura” and here Māhinaarangi borne Raukawa.
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