Rongokako

Rongokako was a New Zealand Māori ariki (chieftain) and tohunga (priest) of the Tākitimu tribal confederation and ancestor of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi, who is famous for his giant leaps.

[4] William Colenso quotes a genealogy naming him as son of Tato and brother of Hikutapuae, Hikitaketake, Rongoiamoa, Taihopi, Taihapoa, Kahutua, Motoro, Te Angi, Kupe, Ngake, Paikea, and Uenuku.

[5] Rongokako studied at the whare wānanga (school of learning) in Wairarapa under the patronage of Tupai, who had been one of the Tākitimu's tohunga.

According to tradition, the Wānanga's final examination required the students to use the karakia (chants) they had learnt in order to make supernatural leaps through the air.

To prove that they had mastered this ability, the students had to bring back wet leaves from the rimurapa, a kind of kelp that could be found only on an offshore island.

Rongokako successfully performed the karakia, made the leap, and returned with wet rimurapa, thus earning his initiation as a tohunga.

In one version, Rongokako started capturing and eating travellers around the Heretaunga Plains, so a young woman from Pakipaki, called Hinerākau was sent to stop him.

He found him at Ōhiwa in the Bay of Plenty, but the pair argued over Pāoa's wife and Rongokako fled south, leaving footprints at Wharekahika, Kaiora near Whangara, Nukutaurua on the Mahia peninsula, Cape Kidnappers, and Wellington, where he leapt across Cook Strait and disappeared.

[4] The story of Rongokako fetching the rimurapa and his race with Pāoa are recounted by J. H. Mitchell (aka Tiaki Hikawera Mitira) as part of his 1944 history of Ngāti Kahungunu.