The Battle of Hingakaka was fought between two Māori armies of the North Island near Te Awamutu and Ōhaupō in the Waikato, probably in about 1807.

The Ngāti Whātua chief Murupaenga, who led his warriors into action in the battle, was judged by Samuel Marsden to be about 50 when he saw him in 1820.

Pikauterangi, a chief of Ngāti Toa from the Marokopa district, was aggrieved over the poor distribution of the kahawai fish harvest, according to Pei Te Hurinui Jones.

[5] Pikauterangi then travelled around the lower North Island collecting a large force from many smaller allied hapū and iwi.

He sent runners to the pā pahū at Mangatoatoa to raise the alarm and warn the Waikato–Maniapoto forces of the impending attack.

The combined Whātua–Hauraki and Waikato–Maniapoto forces, realising their numbers were far fewer at about 1,600 (some sources say 3,000), arranged bunches of feathers on top of fern to simulate the head feathers of warriors held in reserve, while other chiefs made war-like speeches in the fern to imaginary warriors.

Huahua's Maniapoto forces attacked with their tactic "Te Kawau Maro" (swoop of the cormorant).

The second group of the defending forces then rushed down the hill to hit the confused army of Pikauterangi in the flank.

The battle is known as Hingakaka, due to the large number of chiefs who died, though the exact pronunciation and meaning of the term is uncertain.

According to an account by George Grey, it is Hīnga-kaka, meaning fish 'hauled up in the kind of net called kaka'.

The Ngāti Toa and Te Āti Awa were victorious in the battle of Motunui, but nevertheless the relieving force continued on to unite with the Amio Whenua War Party, and then returned without further fighting to their homelands at Waikato and Waipa.

Te Wherowhero killed 150 prisoners with his favourite greenstone mere, only stopping when his arm got too tired.

The Ngāti Maniapoto chief Tukorehu showed no mercy to the Pukerangiora people, the same people who had saved his life and his war party 10 years earlier, placing the heads of the pā's chiefs, Whatitiri and Pekapeka, on poles in front of the wharenui that had housed him a decade before.