Ngāti Tama–Ngāti Tūwharetoa War

After about a year, Te Atua-reretahi met with Poutū-te-rangi, a chief of Ngāti Raukawa,[14] who resided at Manukueke on the west coast of Taupō or at Maraeroa in the Hauhangaroa Range west of Taupō. When Poutū heard how Rua-wehea treated the people of Ngāti Tama, he advised that they should kill him and gave Te Atua-reretahi a whale-bone mere called Paroparo-humeia with which to do the deed.[15][13][7]

The next time that Rua-wehea came to visit the Ngāti Tama at Whanganui, blowing on his pū kāeaea, they burnt some weeds, so that he would think that food had been prepared for him, then they welcomed him onto their marae, and led him into a house with a low doorway,[16][7] where Rongo-hape was waiting at the window, Rongo-haua at the centre of the room, and Te Atua-reretahi at the back of the room or hiding behind the door.[9][16] As Rua-wehea bent over to go through the door, Te Atua-reretahi grabbed him, saying "Man with Rongomaiwhiti, strike!".[9][17] They killed Rua-wehea and all of his companions,[7] except for a young boy, Te Rangi-ita, who escaped.[18][19] Ngāti Tama cooked and ate some of the victims immediately, but the rest were hung up on ropes under the waterfall at Hingarae.[20][16][21] According to Samuel Locke, Rua-wehea's slave escaped from the massacre and told Tūwharetoa what had happened.[2] According to Hoeta Te Hata, it was not a slave, but Te Rangi-ita who brought the news.[16] When Tuwharetoa visited Ngati Tama, they denied all knowledge and suggested that his canoe might have capsized, but they found his body hung up at Hingarae and worked out what had happened from the head wound.[22] Pei Te Hurinui Jones says that the rope holding up the body of Rua-wehea broke during the night and his corpse drifted out onto the lake, where it was found by a canoe of Tūwharetoa.[21]

Rua-wehea's cousin, Waikari, who was also an ariki of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, gathered all the hapu of Tūwharetoa, at his base on Motu-o-puhi island on Lake Rotoaira, just south of the southern end of Lake Taupō.[2][23] After performing the peruperu war dance, the assembled chiefs agreed that Ngāti Tama must be destroyed in revenge.[24] Waikari made a special effort to recruit a great warrior called Tūmata-ngaua. Once all the forces were gathered, he led a war party of 800 men to attack the main Ngāti Tama village, Keri-tāne, located on the north bank of the Waihāhā River, where it flows into Lake Taupō.[2][23]

Bracken fern, whose roots are harvested to make aruhe.

The Tūwharetoa forces marched by night to Whaka-uenuku above the Karangahape cliffs at the south end of Lake Taupō at Kuratau.[2][24][23] When they got there, they cooked up some pepe aruhe (small cakes made of fern root). Since Tūmata-ngaua had no food of his own, Waikari gave his cake to him. The forces then travelled by canoe under the cover of darkness until they reached the coast just south of the Waihāhā River.[25][23][26]

Tūmata-ngaua was sent to sneak into Keri-tāne and scout it out while it was still dark. Aware that an attack would be forthcoming, Ngāti Tama had gathered at Keri-tāne to renew the fortifications. As Tūmata-ngaua snuck through the village, he made a special effort to identify Roroihape, the famously beautiful daughter of the rangatira Rongo-hape.[23]

At dawn the next morning, the Tūwharetoa forces attacked Keri-tāne and slaughtered many of Ngāti Tama without a fight, including Rongo-hauā and Te Atua-reretahi.[27][28] While the fighting was going on Rongo-hape made a break for it, fleeing towards where the Tūwharetoa canoes were tied up. The only one who had been left to look after the canoes was the young boy Te Rangi-ita, the sole survivor of the massacre at Whanganui. When Rongo-hape reached the canoes he jumped from the shore, but missed his landing and fell into the water. Te Rangi-ita grabbed a paddle and whacked him over the head as he surfaced, killing him, and earning himself a reputation for prowess.[2][27][28]

Every warrior of Tūwharetoa who had captured a woman during the fighting believed himself to have captured the maiden Roroihape, but in fact Tūmata-ngaua had grabbed her, because only he knew what she looked like. According to Pei Te Hurinui Jones, he handed her over to Waikari, who took her as his own wife. Many great Tūwharetoa chiefs were descended from the pair.[28][26] It is proverbial, when they boast of their lineage, for people to respond by saying "Atā! You are nothing! Paid for with a bundle of fernroot!" (referring to Waikari's gift of fernroot to Tūmata-ngaua), to which they customarily respond, "The price of a real treasure!"[29]

Following this, the Tūwharetoa also attacked the Ngāti Tama fortress at Purukete, which is the origin of the proverb "Aue, mate, he mate wareware te kite au i o Purukete" ("Oh! Death, an unknown death, if only I could have seen Puru-kete!"), in reference to the face that Rua-wehea was not eaten.[2]

Those Ngāti Tama who were not killed at Keri-tāne fled, stopping first at Orakei Korako and Ātiamuri, before settling at Motu-whanake, near Ohakuri. Henceforth, the western coast of Taupō was under Tūwharetoa control.[18]

Having defeated Ngāti Tama, Tūwharetoa also desired vengeance on Poutū and Ngāti Raukawa for having instigated the murder of Rua-wehea. Therefore, they swept down and attacked Manu-kueke, which was located in the area of the Karangahape cliffs, defeated his forces, and killed Poutū himself.[29]