Taraia
[1] After his family were driven out of the East Cape region, he and his brothers led them south into Hawke's Bay, where he brought the Heretaunga Plains under Ngāti Kahungunu control, through the conquest of Pukuwheke, Heipipi, and Ōtātara.
Taraia was the son of Rākei-hikuroa, through whom he was a descendant of Tamatea Arikinui, the captain of the Tākitimu canoe and of the early explorer Toi,[2] His mother was Ruarauhanga.
[8][9] From there, Taraia and his brothers went to Hawke’s Bay,[10] pursuing Rakai-weriweri aka Rakaimoari, one of the men of Kahuparore, who had escaped and was said to have taken part of Tūpurupuru's remains with him.
At the mouth of the Wairoa, the local people refused to ferry Taraia across the river, so he had Hine-kura (his wife or his daughter) given a full body tattoo, lifted her up, and had his men perform haka around her.
They landed on the opposite shore from Pukuwheke and Taraia threw a rock across the river, hitting Rakai-weriweri on the head and knocking off his koukou (top-knot with feathers in it).
She shouted out, ākuanei te hanga kine a tēnei wahine waiho ai hei matakitakitanga mate kanohi tangata ke ("the evil part of this woman is about to be a spectacle for strange men!")
[16][17] Whanganui-a-rotū told Taraia about the Tukituki and Ngaruroro Rivers to the south, which had fertile floodplains and plenty of kahawai.
[16] To take control of the area, Taraia had to seize a fortified village called Heipipi (just south of the Esk River), which was occupied by Te Tini o Maruiwi and protected by the tohunga Tunui.
When the people of Heipipi saw them, they thought that they were a pod of upokohue (long-finned pilot whales) that had been stranded by the tide and they ran out to harvest them.
[18] J. G. Wilson reports that after Taraia's initial attack, Tunui cast a spell, releasing the captured people of Heipipi, then came down and made peace.
[19] The people of Heipipi told Taraia that the fertile territory to the south was controlled by a fortress at Ōtātara (Taradale) on the Tutaekuri River.
When they returned to Wairoa to fetch the rest of their people and bring them to Heretaunga, Taraia and Te Ao Matarahi used Totara as a guide.
Taraia took the area between the Mohaka and the Ngaruroro as the personal demesne of himself and his full siblings, known as Te Hika a Ruarauhanga.
This agreement was sealed by making Te Rangi-tuehu the foster-son of Tū-rakura aka Rakeitekura, who was Tū-rauha's daughter.
[26] Tū-rauha's son Tumahuki and his people, Ngāti Mahu long mourned the loss of their land and mana as a result of Taraia's invasion.
E tama e tangi nei, he tangi kai pea Kaore nei e tama he kainga i a taua ... Ka tau mai Taraia nga ngutu awa kahawai Kai Ngaruroro Ka whati mai o tipuna ki runga te tahuna Tapapa noa ai My son who is crying, are you crying for food?
In order to solemnise it, he planned for his daughter Te Raupare to be thrown into the main post hole when it was erected in the night.
Te Raupare's mother, Hine-pare, asked Taraia's half-brother Tuwhakawhiurangi to switch the child for a stone.
The two war parties met on the Pekapeka ridge near Pakipaki and fought a battle called Te Arai a Turanga.
Then he led it up from the Wairarapa to the Ngaruroro River, where they pulled the lid off the hole in which Taraia had stored offerings of shark and stingrays to the gods.
After Tumapuhia had returned to the Wairarapa, Tuwhakawhiurangi enlisted the help of Pokia and Tahina of Ngāti Rakaipaaka and together they defeated Te Hika a Pāpāuma.
