The war ended when the rest of Ngāti Kahungunu chose not to seek revenge for this attack.
Alongside battles with Ngāti Maru, the war of Te Kupenga played an important role in Te Heuheu's rise to become paramount chief of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, a position still held by his family today.
In the early nineteenth century, the iwi was only loosely bound together, with two main centres of gravity – Ngāti Te Rangiita on the southeast coast of the lake, with its main centre at Motutere, and Ngāti Turumākina at the mouth of the Tongariro River at the south end of the lake.
They advanced on Motutere, the main fortress of Ngāti Te Rangiita, but decided that its fortifications were too strong for them and departed for home in two groups.
When the advance force reached Te Hatepe, they killed a local man called Taupō.
[7][8] In the meanwhile, however, Taupō's daughter, Kahu, had escaped and set out to inform her relative, Mananui Te Heuheu Tūkino II about the murder and to get him to take revenge.
When she approached Waimarino pā, she sang the following song, which is preserved by Hoata Te Hata and John Te Herekiekie Grace, and forms part of a larger song preserved in Āpirana Ngata’s Nga Moteatea:[7][9]