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NEW  ZEALAND
WAIATA * MAORI

Kōtiro Māori E
lyrics    Tommy Taurima   1970s
tune   Elanor Kelaohiwaikalani   1893

Maori Songs - Kiwi Songs - Home

Rongomaiwahine became the matriarch of many related
East Coast tribes after being wooed by Kahungunu.      



Kōtiro Māori e, taku ripene pai
O makawe hoki nga ngaru ate tai
Ko te pare huia
He tohu rangatira e
Ko Rongomaiwahine
O Nukutaurua e.
Maori lass, my gay ribbon,
your hair is like the ripples of the tide
a topknot of huia feathers
an aristocratic symbol
Rongomaiwahine
of Nukutaurua.

Rongongia tō ataahua
E te whenua katoa
Tae atu te kohimuhimu
Ki a Kahungunu e
Ko wai te wahine e
Whakakapakapa te manawanui?
Ko Rongomaiwahine
O Nukutaurua e
Your beauty is known
throughout the land
then the whisper reaches
even to Kahungunu.
Who is the woman who
breaks so many hearts?
It is Rongomaiwahine
of Nukutaurua.

Piki ake, kake ake 1
Ki Te Mahia e
Ka kite tana hiahia
Aue Ko Rongomai e.
Haere mai e tama rukuhia
Nga pāua a Tangaroa nei
Ma Rongomaiwahine
O Nukutaurua e.
He travels up the coast
to Mahia peninsula
and sees his desire.
Oh yes! Oh Rongomai!
Come young man, dive
for the paua belonging to Tangaroa
as a gift for Rongomaiwahine
of Nukutaurua.

Nāhau rā Kahungunu
Tangata whakanene
Na te pāua
I raru ana koe Rongomai e
Maranga mai e hine
Ka haere tāua e
Ki Maramatea
O Nukutaurua e.
Kahungunu has the gift,
of being a trickster.
It was the paua
that defeated you Rongomai.
Come young lady
Let us two travel
to Maramatea
of Nukutaurua.


Note 1. Piki ake, up the coast. He went from Whangara to Mahia. On Pakeha maps this would be going DOWN the coast. But Maori maps faced south: Wellington harbour was the mouth of Maui's fish. So Kahungunu went UP the coast. See the map below.

Kaulana Nā Pua

Tommy Tuarima borrowed the tune of this patriotic Hawaiian anthem when he was the director of the Center for Polynesian Cultural Studies in Ohau, put a more lively beat to it, and used it for Kotiro Maori E. Many Hawaiians were upset when he did this.

Kaulana Nā Pua (or "Kauranga Nga pua" in the NZ Maori dialect of Polynesian) was composed  by Eleanor Kekoaohiwaikalani  Prendergast  in 1893 to protest the American overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani and the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Kaulana nā pua aʻo Hawaiʻi
Kūpaʻa mahope o ka ʻāina
Hiki mai ka ʻelele o ka loko ʻino
Palapala ʻānunu me ka pākaha

Aʻole aʻe kau i ka pūlima
Maluna o ka pepa o ka ʻenemi
Hoʻohui ʻāina kūʻai hewa
I ka pono sivila aʻo ke kanaka 		Famous are the flowers (children) of Hawaiʻi
Ever loyal to the land
When the evil-hearted messenger comes
 With his greedy document of extortion

Do not fix a signature
To the paper of the enemy
With its sin of annexation
And sale of the civil rights of the people

Other Kotiro Maori songs

This is not the Kotiro Maori song composed by Kingi Ihaka, and sung by Maisey Rika.

Maori girl, I hear you singing...
Nor is it this old tourist poi dance
Kotiro Maori, hei ha hei
E poi atu nei, hei ha hei
E matakitaki ko te iwi pakeha
 		Maori girl, hei ha hei
Twirl your poi, hei ha hei
The tourists are watching you.

Rongomaiwahine

Rongomaiwahine was the principal ancestor of the people of the Mahia Peninsula. She was a woman of very high rank and a famous beauty, descended from both Ruawharo, the tohunga of the Takitimu voyaging waka, and Popoto, commander of the Kurahaupo voyaging waka.

The peninsula was originally known as Nukutaurua, a name that is still applied to parts of the area.

When the Takitimu arrived from Tahiti, some 2 centuries after the first Polynesian settlers, with many distinguished and learned tohunga on board, Ruawharo gave the name Te Mahia to the peninsula because it resembled a part of his tribe's original homeland.

Kahungunu

Kahungunu was the great-grandson of Tamatea-mai-tawhiti, (Tamatea from Tahiti) the captain of the Takitimu voyaging waka.

And he was the son of Tamatea-pokai-whenua, (Tamatea encircling the land) New Zealand's first extreme sports enthusiast. Kahungunu's father took a 50-man canoe around all of New Zealand, and then arriving back in Cook Strait, decided to take a bit of a cross-country short-cut home to Tauranga.

He and his 50 men poled their big canoe all the way up the Whanganui river, portaged it across to Lake Rotoaira, navigated down the Tongariro river, sailed across Lake Taupo, and started down the Waikato river.

He tried to shoot the Huka Falls in that big canoe, but he and most of his men were drowned in the attempt. (He must have been quite crazy, but he is my favourite old New Zealand hero - JA)

Kahungunu (also known as Kahu-hunuhunu) inherited the daring, energy and leadership of his two Tamatea ancestors. He was born at the Tinotino pā in Ōrongotea (later named Kaitāia). His father subsequently moved to the Tauranga area, where Kahungunu grew to adulthood.

Tall and handsome, he was renowned for his charismatic leadership. He supervised the planning and building of entire villages, the irrigation and drainage of cultivations, the gathering of food, and the arts of carving, tattooing, weaving and canoe making. He married many women during his lifetime, and his many descendants later made many strategic marriages, creating a network of alliances.

Kahungunu's marriages in chronological order

They follow his southward migration down the East Coast of the North Island, though specific tribal traditions can vary the exact sequence.

Hinetapu
     at Kaitāia (his birthplace and early home) 

Widely recorded in tribal narratives as his first wife, with whom he had his initial 
children, Tamateaiti, Haruatai, and Poupoto, before leaving the far north to travel south. 


Waiarai
     at Whakatāne 

Met as he moved down the coast, with whom he had a child named Pō Tirohia 

Te Hautāruke 

     at Ōpōtiki, 20 km east of Wakatane.
Married further along his journey; they had three children, Rākei, Whakatau, and 
Papake. 


Ruarauhanga 

     at Whāngārā, 20 km up the coast from Gisborne.
 

  Daughter of the chief Wairau, with whom he had children including Ruaroa 
and Rongomaire. 


Ruareretai 

      at Popoia fortified pa, 20 km inland from today's Gisborne.

Daughter of the principal chief Ruapani; they had a daughter named 
Ruahereheretīeke. 


Hinepūariari 

     at Whareongaonga 

Married shortly after leaving Tūranga, with whom he had Pōwhiro and another child.


Kahukurawaiaraia 

     at Whareongaonga 

Sister to Hinepūariari, with whom he had children named Tuaiti and Pōtirohia. 

Rongomaiwahine 

     at Nukutaurua on the Māhia Peninsula 

His most famous and legendary union. He traveled to Māhia specifically to win her, 
and their marriage cemented the foundation of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi. 


Pou Wharekura 

     at Kaiwhakareireia pā

A high ranking woman he took as his wife in his later years after she was captured in battle. She choose Kahungunu over younger captors and gave 
him a daughter, Ruatāpui.

Kahungunu's pursuit of Rongomaiwahine

She and her first husband Tamatakutai, a carver, lived at Tawapata, on the eastern side of the Mahia Paeninsula.


.

First he set about gaining the approval of Rongomaiwahine's people. He climbed a hill behind the village at Tawapata, where he watched the shags diving, and he practiced holding his breath until the birds reappeared.

Then he went diving himself: holding his breath for long periods, he filled several containers with paua (abalone shellfish) - enough for all the occupants of the village. When he surfaced from his final dive he had covered his chest with the paua, and everyone was very impressed.

Kahungunu then set out to create discord between Tamatakutai and Rongomaiwahine and her husband.

One version of the story says that he ate paua roe and surreptitiously farted under the couple's bed coverings. They accused one another and an argument resulted.

The next morning, Kahungunu joined Tamatakutai in the sport of surfing in a canoe. Kahungunu took over the steering and capsized it on a particularly large wave. Tamatakutai, unable to swim, was drowned.

Another story tells how the meal of paua made Rongomaiwahine fart continually during the night, inducing her to leave her husband's side and go out to relieve herself at the distant latine.... . And as she came back, Kahungunu was waiting for her. This story says he successfully wooed her that night, and thus changed the whole Maori history of the East Coast.

After Rongomaiwahine took Kahungunu for her husband, their principal pa was Maunga-a-Kahia. Rongomaiwahine had two daughters by Tamatakutai and then three sons and two more daughters by Kahungunu.

Some Maori identify themselves as both Ngati Rongomaiwahine and Ngati Kahungunu. But the mana of Rongomaiwahine is so great that those who are descended from her first two daughters identify themselves only as Ngati Rongomaiwahine.

Pakimana Ramond "Tommy" Taurima
Born 1936 at Nuhakato Lena and Pakimana Tuarima. Died 2016.
He wrote many other Maori songs, including
 Tirama mai and Te Rina.
He was the grand-father of Te Rina Pomare, and trained her as choreographer of Maori dancing.
He was the director of the Center for Polynesian Cultural Studies, in Hawaii, from about 1960 on.
In the 1990s he was a tutor at Manukau Polytechnic's Nga Mahi a Tane Rore, a course
which gave young Maori and Polynesian people a basis for a career in the entertainment industry.
He served as a National Kapa Haka Festival judge and took Maori concert groups to cultural festivals in Europe and the USA.
Maori Songs - Kiwi Songs - Home

Published on the NZ Folksong website August 10, 2006, revised Aug 2009.
Origin of tune added Sept 2018, Kahununu's wives, Tommy's biography and visitor counter added Aug 2026.