Hotunui


Hotunui was a Māori rangatira of the Tainui tribal confederation of Waikato, New Zealand. Through his son Marutūāhu he is the ancestor of four tribes of the Hauraki Gulf: Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Rongoū, Ngāti Tamaterā, and Ngāti Whanaunga. He probably lived in the latter half of the sixteenth century.

Life

According to the Tainui traditions reported by Pei Te Hurinui Jones, Hotunui was the son of Uenuku-te-rangi-hōkā, son of Whatihua and Rua-pū-tahanga of Ngāti Ruanui. He had two half-brothers, Tamāio and Mōtai. Uenuku-te-rangi-hōkā went to live in south Taranaki, the homeland of his mother, settling at Taukōkako, near Taiporohēnui, where Hotonui was born.
Ngāti Maru tradition appears to identify Hotunui with Hoturoa, but while Jones concedes that Hotunui may be an alternative name for Hoturoa, he insists that the father of Marutūāhu is a different, later individual.

Marriage to Mihi-rāwhiti

When Hotonui grew up, he married a lady from Kāwhia, Mihi-rāwhiti daughter of Māhanga, and they split their time between Taranaki and Kāwhia. Their first two sons, Manu-kōpiri and Maru-wharanui, were born in south Taranaki. During a stay in Kāwhia, some of Māhanga's kūmara were stolen and Hotonui's footprints were found outside, so he was accused of the theft. In his fury, Māhanga went out, uprooted all of Hotunui's kumara plants and crushed their mounds. Hotunui was so angry and ashamed at this that he left, an event known to Tainui as 'Te Mara-tuahu-kau'. Mihi-rāwhiti was pregnant at the time and Hotonui instructed her to name the child in memory of his expulsion: Maru-tūahu if it was a boy and Pare-tūahu if it was a girl. In the end she had a boy.
Hotunui settled among the Uri o Pou / Ngāti Pou at Whakatīwai on the Hauraki Gulf, where he married a local woman. According to Pei Te Hurinui Jones, she was a sister of the local chief Te Whata. According to a Hauraki Ngāti Maru account reported by John [White (ethnographer)|John White], she was Waitapu, daughter of Rua-hiore.

Journey of Maru-tūahu

When Maru-tūahu grew up, he set off for Hauraki in search of his father. Along the way he was met by two daughters of Te Whata, Hine-rehua and Pare-moeahu, who both instantly decided that they wanted to marry him. After they had discovered who he was, Pare-moeahu ran to Hotonui and told him of his son's arrival. Maru-tūahu subsequently married her. According to Pei Te Hurinui Jones Hine-rehua married Hotunui's other son Pākā, but Ngāti Maru tradition says that she also married Maru-tūahu.

Family and descendants

Hotunui and Mihi-rāwhiti had three children:
  • Manu-kōpiri, who was born in South Taranaki, and settled along the Whanganui River.
  • Maru-wharanui, who was born in South Taranaki, and whose descendants, if any, remained there. The Ngāti Maru of Hauraki say that he is the ancestor of the Ngāti Maru of Taranaki, but they themselves say he had a different parentage.
  • Maru-tūahu, who married Pare-moeahu, daughter of Te Whata and had sons:
Hotunui and Waitapu had one son:
  • Pākā, who married Hine-rehua, daughter of Te Whata, according to Pei Te Hurinui Jones, and had a daughter, Kahu-reremoa, who herself married Taka-kōpiri, son of Rangitahi, of Te Arawa, whose daughter Tū-parahaki was an ancestor of Ngāti Hauā.