Nga Tukemata – nga taonga o Ngati Kahungunu

Tu Tangata, Issue 32, 1 October 1986, Page 14

Nga Tukemata - nga taonga o Ngati Kahungunu

na Caleb Matai

For the first time a collection of Ngati Kahungunu taonga have been brought together in a display at the Hawkes Bay Art Gallery and Museum in Napier.

Called Nga Tukemata, the exhibition is to remain on its home ground for the next five years. The curator for the museum, David Butts said the exhibition had been in the pipeline for the last three years, but he did acknowledge the home-coming of Te Maori had spurred things on. The Education Officer for the museum, Joanne Mclntosh said museums were glad they could help in making taonga more accessible to people. Nga Tukemata have been drawn together from museums around the country. She said her role has been visiting schools and letting them know of the present exhibition and also encouraging them to look around the Hawkes Bay Kahungunu area and see the rich history associated with the land and people. Field trips to local pa sites have been a feature of her educational visits and now she’s able to bring the children in to the museum to feel the presence of the taonga that take their life from the people of Kahungunu. Mrs Mclntosh hopes that the school visits to the museum encourage parents and other adults to come and share the beauty of Nga Tukemata. Staff agree the exhibition has been a great experience and think other museums should help organise similar displays. The fifty or more taonga range from poupou to smaller carvings and they crowd out their one display room. Next door is a contemporary Maori art exhibition. The remainder of the museum is given over to artefacts from the time of the arrival of the pakeha. However this deficit was more than made up by the powhiri accorded to Nga Tukemata and the 500 or more iwi who warmed their dwelling place for the next five years. Along with the powhiri, an audiovisual presentation set the scene for the return home of Nga Tukemata nga taonga o Ngati Kahungunu. It was put together through the photography of Walton Walker and the writing of Piri Sciascia both from the Maori and South Pacific Arts Council. That story of the history of the Kahungunu people is retold here. An introduction to Kahungunu Ngati Kahungunu today is a major tribal group of the New Zealand Maori people. This tribe is one of several who

together originate from the Takitimu canoe. The other tribes of this canoe spread from the far north to the deep south. Ngati Kahungunu means the descendants of Kahungunu. This ancestor was a man who settled on the eastern coast of the North Island about twenty generations ago. To appreciate what Ngati Kahungunu is today, it is necessary to recollect the many aspects of its history which have enriched its art and culture. Each section of this presentation focusses upon an important cultural context of Kahungunu art. We begin in the Turanga or Gisborne district and focus upon various forms of art that are connnected or related to each other. We then move in the direction of the Ngati Kahungunu migration to the Wairoa district and focus upon the oral arts: whaikorero, whakapapa and karakia. Following this the art is presented in relation to the people of the Heretaunga district. Progressing steadily towards the Wairarapa district to explore art in the context of land. The concluding section of this presentation introduces the perspective of time and change. The contemporary expressions of the Ngati Kahungunu artists, remind us of the continuing evolution of Maori culture in general. Art works are powerful objects, they are imbued with mana. We treasure, protect and cherish them, they move us to speech, to dance, to song, to tears, to deep feeling. In the words of a recent proverb, “He toi whakairo, he mana tangata” where there is artistic excellence there is human dignity. TAURANGA Turanganui o Kiwa, or the Gisborne area may be regarded as an early parekereke or cradle of Ngati Kahungunu culture. The family of Tamatea Ariki Nui lived in the Turanga area and occupied Titirangi, one of the two major pa. From Titirangi Kahungunu inquired about the inhabitants of a neighbouring pa. He noticed smoke in the distance and was told that the pa was Popoia, the pa of Ruapani. Ruapani was the paramount chief of the Turanganui a Kiwa tribes. He descended from Pawa

and Kiwa of the Horouta canoe. The families of Kahungunu and Ruapani are closely linked. Other pa such as the Pukepoto cluster of three connecting fortified pa were created by Kahungunu’s descendents; Rakaihikuroa at Kakariki Taurewa, Taraia at Upokokakariki and Tupurupuru at Paekakariki. These ancestors have been depicted in a distinctive carving style originating from the Aomarama and Hingangaroa schools and late 19th Century carvers such as Rukupo. These descendants include Kahukuranui Kahungunu’s son, and Rakaihikuroa Kahungunu’s grandson, and many others. The importance of korowai work as traditionally practised by women is noted in the following whakatauki, or proverb. “He ao te rangi ka uhia He huruhuru te manu ka tau.”

The performing arts have always been strong in the Turanga area. The Waihirere Cultural Group are famous and renowned. This group and other groups of the area have played a major role in the retention of Takitimu tradition.

And the language arts; karakia, whaikorero and waiata, have a daily use on the many marae in the Turanga area. The Turanga area today remains an important Hawaiiki for Ngati Kahungunu. The major tribal groups, Rongowhakaata, Te Aitanga a Mahaki and Ngai Tamanuhiri all have close ties to Ngati Kahungunu. It was here that Ngati Kahungunu as a tribe had their beginnings and it is from this area that we still have so much to learn about our early ancestry.

WAIROA

Wairoa Hopupu Hongenengene Matangirau is an area steeped in the tapu of Ngati Kahungunu.

There are many links with the Turanga district. Kahungunu migrated to the Mahia district and married Rongomaiwahine. The celebrated story of their union is often retold on the many marae of Ngati Kahungunu and beyond. Rongomaiwahine continues to this day to be the focus of story, song and dance and of carving.

Many important links within Ngati Kahungunu have been forged through Kahungunu and his wives and their children.

The battle at Maungakahia pa, on the Mahia peninsula against Tutamure, led to the marriage of Kahungunu and Rongomai wahine’s daughter Tauheikuri to Tamataipunoa.

Kahungunu and Tutamure sought to make peace with each other, Tauheikuri was intended for Tutamure, she however selected, albeit mistakenly, the younger and more handsome Tamataipunoa. From this union came many of the descendants of the Turanga district. These connections extend further into the Wairoa district in such proverbs as:

“Ka tere Rauaa ka tere Pipiiwhaakao”

Kahungunu was a great warrior and a great food provider. The Wairoa area remains to this day the most important pukenga or repository of the traditions of Kahungunu, the man.

From Turanga and Wairoa these links have extended widely to Waikaremoana with Ngati Ruapani and Tuhoe,

to Te Reinga the home of Hinekorako to Te Haroto with Ngati Hineuru and Tuwharetoa extending further south of the Mohaka river to Lake Tutira.

The Wairoa area is also a parekereke of Ngati Kahungunu culture, and is particularly strong in the oral arts of whaikorero, whakapapa and karakia.

HERETAUNGA

An area of major importance to Ngati Kahungunu is Te Riu o Heretaunga in the district of central Hawkes Bay.

The Heretaunga district was provided great leaders and prominent personalities which have added a special flair to the life and story of Ngati Kahungunu.

The mana of Ngati Kahungunu was brought to Heretaunga from the parekereke of Turanga and Te Wairoa by Taraia and Te Ao Matarahi.

Heretaunga Ararau (Heretaunga of arcadian pathways), Heretaunga Hauku Nui (Heretaunga of life giving dew), Heretaunga haro o te Kahu (Heretaunga, the land the beauty of which can only be seen through the eyes of the hawk in full flight), Heretaunga takoto noa (Heretaunga from which the chiefs have departed, and only we the servants remain.)

Heretaunga has always been rich in land and food resources.

The whole district has ever been desired and coveted by many tribes from the North and the West. This homeland has been retained by the warriors and the fighting strength of a united people. They are united in the bloodties from Tamatea Ariki Nui of the Takitimu canoe, through Kahungunu and his descendants Taraia and Te Ao Matarahi and on to Te Whatu-i-apiti.

Ko Te Whatu-i-apiti te rangatira nui o Heretaunga i ona ra. “Ko nga ra era nga riri a awatea, o nga riri kaikino i roto o Heretaunga. Ko Te Whatu-i-apiti i pau te nuinga o ona ra ki roto ki nga riri awatea, kanohi i Heretaunga ki Te Wairoa”. He tokomaha nga wahine a Te Whatu-i-apiti, ko Te Huhuti tetahi, ko

te tamahine a Te Rangi-taumaha. Ta Taraia ko Te Rangitaumaha. Another rangatira, Pareihe was one of the last great chiefs to lead the many united hapu of Ngati Kahungunu. He led his people from the district to the safety of Okuraarenga, leaving Heretaunga as a battleground. Some chiefs like Te Hauwaho remained and died in battle at Pakake defending Heretaunga. Pareihe returned to evict the invading tribes out of the Heretaunga district. “Ko te manu taupua, e patua i te kainga Tena, ko te manu kairakau, e patua i wahike.”

(n a Pareihe)

More recent warriors include Tomoana, Kawepo, Te Hapuku, Te Moananui and Te Ropiha.

The women of Ngati Kahungunu retain the traditional mana wahine. The names and stories of women in this district are to be found in meeting houses even to this day; Papauma, Te Huhuti, Hinepare, Tu te Ihonga, Mahinarangi, Hine Te Moa, Te Upokoiri, Hinemanu, Iranui and Hinematioro are but a few.

Women retain the mauri of the pursuits of weaving, raranga and the composition of waiata aroha.

TE TAIWHAKARUNGA The remaining section of Ngati Kahungunu, Te Taiwhakarunga, from Te Poroporo, or Cape Turnagain, to the Wairarapa, is a district rich in tradition and bears many geographical features of importance. The tide of Kahungunu cultural history and mana flowed from the Gisborne and Wairoa districts into Heretaunga and on into the Wairarapa, blending with that of the Rangitane. Te Poho o Kahungunu, a carved house, was erected in the time when the Wairarapa served as a meeting ground for all the tribes and political elders of maoridom. Haunui, a descendant of Kupe, pursued his loved one Wairaka, and upon scaling the peaks of Tararua looked to the east and saw the sparkling waters of Lake Wairarapa. Turanga, son of Turi of the Aotea canoe, gave his name to Te Ahu o Turanga. Below spread the dense bush of Tamaki Nui a Rua in the Dannevirke area. Further east stood Te Poroporo, linking all of the hapu of Ngati Kahungunu through Te Kupenga a Te Huki or the net of Te Huki. “Ko Ngarangiwhakaupoko ki te matamata i Te Poroporo Ko Ngawhakatatareoterangi ki te matamata i Whangara Ko Puruaaute kei waenganui.” (na Te Huki)

The people of Te Taiwhakarunga have always been great fishermen of the sea and the rivers, Tukituki, Manawatu and Ruamahanga.

The Taiwhakarunga district is steeped in the traditions of a people descended from a sacred canoe, that canoe being Takitimu. Ngati Kahungunu history and art express the life and values of the people who have lived and continue to live upon this land. The land is the mother of the people, and in the land is the mauri, the life force of the people of Ngati Kahungunu. The tribe is linked

by many land features including: Wairarapa, Te Poroporo, Kahuranaki, Te Mahia, Te Kuri a Paoa.

Ki te ao marama

The context of Maori art is continually changing like the culture and like the people. Ngati Kahungunu are a different people from the time of Tamatea Ariki Nui. They were a different people again in the time of Pareihe. Today’s expression of art comes from a traditional base. The carvings of Matahiwi are easily identifiable as whakairo, as a wharenui, and yet modern, new, innovative and creative. Te Huki, a new meeting house, also incorporates modern expression of a traditional concept the whao, or chisel, handed down and used in a new way.

Other Kahungunu developments in contemporary styles include, Moko, a story of Mataora and Niwareka, danced by the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company, Wananga i te Rangi, a modern dance drama and contemporary painting and bone carving. The International Arts Exhibition, Te Maori, shown recently in the United States of America, included Ngati Kahungunu art.

New contexts, new values, new issues facing Ngati Kahungunu as a people have given rise to the development of new artistic expression. New life and new interpretations have been given to the past as well.

Te Kauru o te Rangi, an important exhibit in the Te Maori exhibition, highlights the many issues confronting the people of Ngati Kahungunu.

We the people of Ngati Kahungunu, have made a major contribution to Maori art in the past, and we will continue in modern time, to contribute our rourou, or food basket. Kua kai tatou i nga kai o te mara i tiria e o tatou tupuna, me tiri ano hoki tatou kia whai hua ai etahi oranga mo nga whakatupuranga e heke mai nei.