Māhaki

1470s) was a Māori rangatira (chieftain) in the area north of modern Gisborne on the East Cape of New Zealand and the ancestor of the Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki iwi.

[2] Around 1475, Tamataipūnoa accompanied his half-brother Tūtāmure on a raid to attack Maunga-a-kāhia, where Tauhei-kurī lived with her elderly father, Kahungunu.

They attacked Tūpurupuru's advance party, killing its commander Pouarau and eating his heart, as normal for the mātāika (first casualty of a battle).

[8][9] Māhaki's youngest son, Whakarau, had been away hunting when the call to arms came and had therefore been left behind, but he found the stake that had been used for cooking Pouarau's heart (the kōhiku-manawa), tracked the war party to Pukepoto, made his way to the front line and killed Tūpurupuru with a spear strike to the throat, ending the conflict.

Māhaki received their land west of the Waipaoa River, which had previously been the demesne of Tūpurupuru and gave it to his sons Ranginui-a-Ihu and Whakarau.

Later another follower killed and ate Kauere-huanui the kurī (dog) of Tu-te-kohi, the rangatira based at Tūranga (modern Gisborne).

[11] Desiring revenge, Tu-te-kohi convinced Māhaki to join him an attack on Rakaipaaka, along with the twins Rongomai-mihiao and Rongomai-wehea of Uawa (Tolaga Bay).

Tu-te-kohi then attacked Waerengaahika, defeated them again and drove them to Taumata-o-te-kai, at which point Māhaki brokered a peace agreement, according to which Rakaipaaka and Hinemanuhiri had to go into exile.

One of the pou (posts) in the Whare Whakairo of the Māngatu Blocks corporation depicts Māhaki with his son Hikarongo.