Te Ao-tū-tahanga and Manu-kaihonge were Māori rangatira (chieftains) in the Tainui tribal confederation, based at Moehau in Coromandel, New Zealand.
[3] When they were still young, their elderly father was murdered by Ngāti Huarere at Tūtū-kākā (modern Thames), while returning to Moehau from a visit to the Waikato, in revenge for an earlier attack on them.
[4] Therefore, Te Ao-tū-tahanga travelled into the Waikato, to Mount Pirongia, where he convinced a number of his half-brothers – Tūpana, Rua-teatea, Pōtaua, and Atutahi – to join the expedition.
Manu-kaihonge boldly declared that he would go to the mainland and fetch water for the baby and paddled over in his canoe with a small group.
However, on the way back, Manu-kaihonge realised that he was about to be ambushed so he shouted and struck his water-gourd with his taiaha spear, terrifying the Ngāti Huarere, who mistook the sound for the smashing of skulls.