Tamāio was a Māori rangatira (chieftain) of the Tainui tribal confederation, based at Kāwhia in Waikato, New Zealand.
He was the first chieftain to lead a war-party inland from Kāwhia, in a war against Ngāti Hā, sometime around the middle of the sixteenth century.
This was repeated three times and led the Ngāti Hā to believe that Tamāio's war party was much larger than it actually was, so they abandoned the location without a fight, fleeing back to Te Tīroa.
Believing them to be unarmed men collecting firewood, the three chiefs of Ngāti Hā sallied forth from the village with their warriors and were killed.
[9] The raid is also referred to in evidence presented to the Ōtorohanga Land Court by Te Naunau Hīkaka on 15 December 1892.