Ko Te Rangitakaroro te tangata

Ngāti Tarāwhai. Te Kawe tapu o Te Arawa. He uri nō Ngātoroirangi.

Tarāwhai is of the direct male line of descent from Ngātoroirangi, 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 Ngātoroirangi and of Ngātoroirangi’s own supernatural abilities. It was he who brought the mauri of Te Arawa from Hawaiki to Aotearoa. Tarāwhai had five children:

Ahiahiotahu

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

Te Rangitakaroro
& Rongoheikume

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

Tāporahitaua

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

Tārewakaiahi

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