Ko Te Rangitakaroro te tangata

Ngāti Tarāwhai. Te Kawe tapu o Te Arawa. He uri no Ngatoroirangi.

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Tarāwhai is of the direct male line of descent from Ngatoroirangi, tohunga ahurewa and ariki of Te Arawa Waka.

The uri of Ngāti Tarawhai descend from the eponymous ancestor Tarāwhai. Tarāwhai descendants hold mana whenua over the Okataina area.

Ngāti Tarāwhai are sometimes referred to as Te Kawe Tapu o Te Arawa – a reference to the knowledge retained over the generations by the uri of Ngatoroirangi and of Ngatoroirangi’s own supernatural abilities. It was he who brought the mauri of Te Arawa from Hawaiki to Aotearoa.

Tarāwhai had five children:

· Ahiahiotahu

· Te Rangitakaroro

· Rongoheikume

· Taporahitaua

· Tarewakaiahi

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Ahiahiotahu, the first born of Tarāwhai and his wife Rangimaikuku, married and moved away to live with her husband’s people.

Te Rangitakaroro and Rongoheikume are the two siblings that people of Ngati Tarawhai mostly recognise as being a descendant of.

Taporahitaua left the Okataina district under a cloud and his descendants are found in the Kawerau and Mataatua district.

Tarewakaiahi moved to Rotoiti and lived amongst the Ngati Pikiao. A small few of his uri returned to Okataina in later years and reintegrated with their Tarawhai relations.

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