Tū-pāhau
New Zealand Māori chief (17th century)
Tū-pāhau was a Māori rangatira (chieftain) of the Tainui tribal confederation from the Waikato region, New Zealand. Initially based at Kāwhia, he led a force south to settle at Marokopa, where his descendants became the Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Rārua iwi. He probably lived in the second half of the seventeenth century.
Life
Tū-pāhau was born at Kāwhia. His father, Te Urutira, was a son of Kaihamu and Tū-parahaki, both of whom were descendants of Hoturoa, the captain of the Tainui canoe. His mother, Kearangi / Takikawehi was a descendant of Tongātea of Ngāti Ruanui, through his grandson Tamainu-pō. In one account, Tū-pāhau received his name, which means 'bearded man', in commemoration of Tamainu-pō, because the latter only received the tohi baptismal ritual when he was an adult.
Conflict with Tamure
Tū-pāhau established a base at Rakau-nui on the Kāwhia Harbour and developed a reputation as a great tohunga or priest. Another tohunga, Tamure, came from Rangiahua in Kāwhia to visit him, but they argued about the correct wording of a karakia (song, incantation) called Tū-hangaia. Tamure was so offended at being challenged that he stormed off and returned to Rakau-nui with a war party of two thousand men.
“Tū-pāhau” enters the record as new Zealand Māori chief (17th century). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Tū-pāhau, Zealand and Māori can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 30, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q111104387. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tū-pāhau” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.