# Hotunui

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**Hotunui** was a [Māori](/source/M%C4%81ori_people) *[rangatira](/source/Rangatira)* (chieftain) of the [Tainui](/source/Tainui) tribal confederation of [Waikato](/source/Waikato), [New Zealand](/source/New_Zealand). Through his son [Marutūāhu](/source/Marut%C5%AB%C4%81hu) he is the ancestor of four tribes of the [Hauraki Gulf](/source/Hauraki_Gulf): [Ngāti Maru](/source/Ng%C4%81ti_Maru_(Hauraki)), [Ngāti Rongoū](/source/Ng%C4%81ti_Rongo%C5%AB), [Ngāti Tamaterā](/source/Ng%C4%81ti_Tamater%C4%81), and [Ngāti Whanaunga](/source/Ng%C4%81ti_Whanaunga). He probably lived in the latter half of the sixteenth century.[1]

## Life

According to the Tainui traditions reported by [Pei Te Hurinui Jones](/source/Pei_Te_Hurinui_Jones), Hotunui was the son of Uenuku-te-rangi-hōkā, son of [Whatihua](/source/Whatihua) (through whom he was a male-line descendant of [Hoturoa](/source/Hoturoa), the captain of the *[Tainui](/source/Tainui_(canoe))*) and [Rua-pū-tahanga](/source/Rua-p%C5%AB-tahanga) of [Ngāti Ruanui](/source/Ng%C4%81ti_Ruanui) (through whom he was a descendant of [Turi](/source/Turi_(Maori_ancestor)), the captain of the *[Aotea](/source/Aotea_(canoe))* canoe). He had two half-brothers, [Tamāio](/source/Tam%C4%81io)[2] and Mōtai.[3] Uenuku-te-rangi-hōkā went to live in south [Taranaki](/source/Taranaki), the homeland of his mother, settling at Taukōkako, near [Taiporohēnui](/source/Taiporoh%C4%93nui), where Hotonui was born.[2]

Ngāti Maru tradition appears to identify Hotunui with Hoturoa,[4] 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.[2]

### Marriage to Mihi-rāwhiti

When Hotonui grew up, he married a lady from Kāwhia, Mihi-rāwhiti (perhaps originally named Whaea-tapoko) daughter of Māhanga (son of Tūheita, rival of [Kōkako](/source/K%C5%8Dkako_(Tainui)) and a descendant of Hoturoa),[5] and they split their time between Taranaki and Kāwhia. Their first two sons, Manu-kōpiri and Maru-wharanui, were born in south Taranaki.[6] During a stay in Kāwhia, some of Māhanga's [kūmara](/source/Sweet_potato) were stolen and Hotonui's footprints were found outside, so he was accused of the theft.[6] In his fury, Māhanga went out, uprooted all of Hotunui's kumara plants and crushed their mounds.[7] Hotunui was so angry and ashamed at this that he left,[6] an event known to Tainui as 'Te Mara-tuahu-kau' (the cultivation mounded without result).[7] Mihi-rāwhiti was pregnant at the time and Hotonui instructed her to name the child in memory of his expulsion: Maru-tūahu ('crushed mound') if it was a boy and Pare-tūahu if it was a girl. In the end she had a boy.[8][6]

Hotunui settled among the Uri o Pou / Ngāti Pou at [Whakatīwai](/source/Whakat%C4%ABwai) on the [Hauraki Gulf](/source/Hauraki_Gulf), where he married a local woman.[9][6] According to [Pei Te Hurinui Jones](/source/Pei_Te_Hurinui_Jones), she was a sister of the local chief Te Whata (or Te Whatu). According to a Hauraki Ngāti Maru account reported by [John White](/source/John_White_(ethnographer)), she was Waitapu, daughter of Rua-hiore.[6]

### 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 (or Hine-urunga) 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,[6] but Ngāti Maru tradition says that she also married Maru-tūahu.[4]

## Family and descendants

Hotunui and Mihi-rāwhiti had three children:

- Manu-kōpiri, who was born in South Taranaki,[6] and settled along the [Whanganui River](/source/Whanganui_River).[4]
- Maru-wharanui, who was born in South Taranaki, and whose descendants, if any, remained there.[6] The Ngāti Maru of Hauraki say that he is the ancestor of the [Ngāti Maru of Taranaki](/source/Ng%C4%81ti_Maru_(Taranaki)),[4] but they themselves say he had a different parentage.[citation needed]
- Maru-tūahu, who married Pare-moeahu, daughter of Te Whata and had sons:

- - Tama-te-pō, ancestor of Ngāti Rongoū - Tama-te-rā, ancestor of Ngāti Tamaterā - Whanaunga, ancestor of Ngāti Whanaunga - According to Ngāti Maru tradition, Maru-tūahu also married Te Whata's elder daughter, Hine-rehua, and had Te Ngako or Te Ngakohua, ancestor of the Hauraki Ngāti Maru[4]

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](/source/Te_Arawa),[6] whose daughter Tū-parahaki was an ancestor of [Ngāti Hauā](/source/Ng%C4%81ti_Hau%C4%81).[10]

## Sources

A Tainui account of Hotunui is recorded by Pei Te Hurinui Jones but, unusually, he does not report his source. It also appears in [S. Percy Smith](/source/S._Percy_Smith)'s *History and Traditions of the Maoris of the west coast North Island of New Zealand prior to 1840*, published in 1910.[11] Hauraki Ngāti Maru versions are recorded by [George Grey](/source/George_Grey) in 1853 and by John White in 1888.[11]

## References

1. Jones & Biggs 2004, p. 102.

1. Jones & Biggs 2004, pp. 102–103.

1. Jones & Biggs 2004, pp. 108–109.

1. ["History"](http://ngatimaru.iwi.nz/history/). Ngati Maru. Retrieved 30 May 2018.

1. Jones & Biggs 2004, p. 113 gives two, conflicting, lines of descent, both deriving from Hoturoa's great-grandson, Hotumatapū.

1. Jones & Biggs 2004, pp. 104–105.

1. Graham 1949, p. 69 n.2.

1. Graham 1949, p. 69 n.4.

1. Graham 1949, p. 69 n.5.

1. Jones & Biggs 2004, pp. 150–151.

1. Jones & Biggs 2004, pp. 102 n. 1.

## Bibliography

- Graham, George (1949). ["Pare Hauraki pare Waikato"](http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_58_1949/Volume_58%2C_No._2/Pare_Hauraki_-_Pare_Waikato%2C_by_George_Graham%2C_p_68-76?action=null#). *Journal of the Polynesian Society*. **58**: 68–74.
- Jones, Pei Te Hurinui & Biggs, Bruce (2004). *Ngā iwi o Tainui : nga koorero tuku iho a nga tuupuna = The traditional history of the Tainui people*. Auckland [N.Z.]: Auckland University Press. ISBN 1869403312.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hotunui](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotunui) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotunui?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.