Wharenui

By the 15th century, wharenui became more elaborately carved, and large enough that one or two central pou (posts) were needed to carry the weight of the structure.

[1] In the 18th century during the voyages of James Cook, he and his crew sighted wharenui which were 10 metres in length, and entirely carved.

[1] The size and scale of Taiporohenui symbolised the opposition of Māori to European settlement and colonisation of traditional lands.

The first, Tanewhirinaki, which was completed in the late 1860s and located at Waioeka, was painted in black, pink and white.

[1] Āpirana Ngata was a proponent of reviving wharenui as a symbol of Māori identity and mana.

[2] During the 19th and early 20th century, missionaries and Christians condemned whakairo depicting genitalia, and removed penises of ancestors from the carvings on wharenui.