Te Rangi-tua-mātotoru

Te Heuheu II called him “the man who understood good and evil” or “had the power of life and death.”[1] John Te Herekiekie Grace reports that “during the occupation of Taupo by Ngati Tuwharetoa no other chief equalled him in mana or prestige.”[2] A Waitangi Tribunal report of 2013 judges that he "set the high standard of leadership that would be associated with the role of paramount chief.

[5][4] The carvings of these houses were produced by a famous rangatira, Hopara, with a pounamu chisel called Hauhau-pounamu.

[6][7] After Te Rangi-tua-mātotoru became ariki, the portion of the tribe living around Lake Rotoaira composed a song calling for the construction of a house for themselves.

We have as yet no house and I feel a pain throbbing as if to break my heart.”[8] In response, Te Rangi-tua-mātotoru built a large wharenui at Heretoa on the southwest edge of Lake Rotoaira, which was named Haruru-o-te-rangi after the spot on Mount Tongariro where Takaka and Te Ririao, two of the tribe’s atua reside.

When the murder was discovered, Te Rangipatoto a chieftain of Ngāti Tahu set out in pursuit, killed Kereua in his sleep by a stream now called Te Wai-o-Kereua (the waters of Kereua, a tributary of the Waikato River near Rotokawa).

They attacked the Ngāti Tahu settlement of Piripekapeka and Tu-taka-roa killed their main chief, Tama-kino, who also had Tūwharetoa ancestry.

As he went past the Te Arawa camp he overheard them discussing their plans to devastate Tokaanu, which far exceeded the amount of damage that he wanted to cause.

The next morning, the men of Te Arawa rowed up to Whaka-oho-kau in their canoes to attack and Tu-taka-roa waded out into the water to confront them all on his own.

Tūwharetoa gathered from all over the island to drive the invaders out, but they were defeated at the Battle of Orana and the survivors fled to Te Rangi-tua-mātotoru's village, where Herea made preparations to defend against an attack.

His body lay in state in a small house on Motutaiko Island, with his taiaha, his mats, and a kaka-feather cloak across the door, until it was desecrated by a raiding party of Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Maru led by Pataua, Wahine-iti, and Hape in the time of Mananui Te Heuheu Tukino II, who avenged that crime by a devastating attack on the raiding party at Rangatira Point.

[26] After some struggle, that position was taken by a distant cousin, Herea Te Heuheu Tukino I, whose descendants continue to hold the post.