Auraro-tuia
Hauraro-tuia
Mahatu-ki-te-raki
Mahunui
Mahutu-ki-te-raki
Mahutu-ki-te-rangi
Nukutaimehameha
Nuku-tai-memeha
Nuku-tai-mimiha
Pirita-o-te-rangi, te
Riu-o-mahu
Riu-o-mahue
Rua-o-mahu
Rui-o-mahui
Tahu-a-rangi
Tama-rereti
Tane-a-rangi
Tau-rangi
The above waka are all linked to the great Maui, voyager of the Pacific, and with each comes a different angle on the story of Maui and his voyage to Aotearoa. In the case of the Auraro-tuia, it is said that Tutaranaki was the builder of both this waka and the Tane-a-rangi (Tahu-a-rangi or Tau-rangi) and that they were hewn from the trunk of one tree: ‘It was in this waka, Auraro-tuia, that Maui was fishing with his hook Piki-rawea, with its barb Awenga (Awhenga) or Maire-hua-kai, when he fished up land. He is said to have used alternatively his own blood, or the body of a man named Aki or Heke for bait, and his line Tiri-tiri-ki-matangi to haul up his catch.’ A second version, collected and recorded in the same volume of Ancient History of the Maori, says that ‘Tahu-a-rangi was the name of the waka in which Maui sat when he pulled the land up out of the ocean, and Tonganui was the name of his fish hook’.
In the centennial publication Tahi Ran Tau o te Marae o Mohaka, Maui’s waka is named as Nukutaimehameha, and its resting place is atop Hikurangi.
According to our ancestors ‘Hui te Rangiora’ sailed the oceans of Tangaroa in his waka ‘Tuahiwi o Atia’ . . . He returned to Hawaiki & told the people of the lands he had seen. This inspired his mokopuna Maui to sail the ocean for his king ‘Ama tai Atea’. His route was south to Tupuai, Rurutu, Rimatara, Rarotonga, Rimitera & Aotearoa. Ngati Porou say his waka Nukutaimehameha is on ‘Hikurangi te Maunga’. The people of this waka were Mamoe, Tuehu, Tahurangi, Pokepoke, Hamoamoa, Patupaiarehe & Tuepe. These people were the custodians of Maui’s fish. They were collectively known as Ngati Ui (Kui, Pui, Hui) depending on dialect.
In Nga Moteatea there is a waiata from Ngati Kahungunu which starts:
Alas, that you should die upon this new waka,
Here is your waka, ’tis Nuku-tai-memeha,
The waka befitting your journey to the hereafter.
That waka was of your ancestor Maui,
From which he fished up this widespread land.
In Ngata’s explanations following the waiata he states: ‘Nuku-tai-memeha.— The waka of Maui-potiki from which he fished up the Fish-of-Maui (North Island of New Zealand)’.
Another waka associated with Maui is Mahunui. Hukateke is remembered as the tohuka (tohunga) on the Mahunui, and it is said he uttered a karakia known as Ranga Whenua during the long weary search west and south. After Maui returned to Hawaiki he sent back the Mahunui to Aotearoa under the command of Tara-o-tu with instructions to place the waka in the exact centre of the South Island, where it is sometimes said to remain in a petrified state in the Harper Range. Other crew remembered as having voyaged with Maui are Ui and Wi, who were left to guard the land. Their names are remembered through landmarks at the mouths of the Oreti River and Mataura River respectively. Kui is another name listed which is very possibly a variation of Ui.
In Beattie’s book The Maoris and Fiordland the following passage is given:
It is interesting to know that Maui’s two sailing masters, Te Hehe and Te Whena, came from a maritime tribe with the intriguing name of Kati-hau-itiiti (people of the slight breeze). This brings up the involved story of Maui’s waka for this voyage, and I record it subject to correction. As far as I can piece it together the story runs that in a land beyond the sky a waka with a name like Mahu-tu-ki-te-raki belonged to Te Hehe (also called Hehe-ue), who was the seventh in descent from the great god of war, Tu-mata-ueka, and he brought it to Maui, who renamed it Mahunui, and set off on an exploring voyage.
James Cowan adds the following short note in an article on names for the South Island:
Mahutu-ki-te-rangi, said by the Moeraki Maoris to be an ancient name of the Middle Island, and was originally that of a waka. It is mentioned in the following fragment of an old haka: —
‘Kowai tou waka e —
E Heu E! i manu atu ai —
Ko Te Raka-a-matua a-i —
Ko Mahutu-ki-te-rangi e.’
By some Maoris this waka is said to be identical with that called Mahunui.
It should also be noted that there was a waka by the name of Mahuhu-ki-te-rangi which landed in the Tai Tokerau district, and it is possible that that waka and the one mentioned in the quote above are the same, with the facts and spelling of the name having altered slightly over time in the two South Island traditions.
Ancient History of the Maori, Vol. 2, pp. 114, 116–17.
JPS, Vol. 14, p. 46.
Maori Art, p. 31.
The Maoris and Fiordland, p. 15.
Nga Moteatea,Vol. 3, p. 283.
Our Southernmost Maoris, pp. 145, 156.
Tahi Rau Tau o te Marae o Mohaka, p. 4.
Tikao Talks, p. 64.
Treasury of Maori Folklore, p. 135.
Tuhoe: Children of the Mist, p. 940.