Tainui (canoe)
In Māori tradition, Tainui was one of the great ocean-going canoes in which Polynesians migrated to New Zealand approximately 800 years ago. The Tainui waka was named after an infant who did not survive childbirth. At the burial site of this child, at a place in Hawaiki known then as Maungaroa, a great tree grew; this was the tree that was used to build the ocean canoe.
| Great Māori migration waka | |
| Commander | Hoturoa |
|---|---|
| Priest | Rakataura aka Hape |
| Landed at | Whangaparaoa, Bay of Plenty, Kāwhia |
| Iwi | Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto, Hauraki, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Marutūahu, Te Kawerau a Maki, Nga Puhi and Ngāi Tai. |
Voyage
Several Tuamotuan stories tell of canoes named Tainui, Tainuia (captained by Hoturoa) and Tainui-atea (captained by Tahorotakarari), that left the Tuamotus and never returned.
In Māori traditions, the Tainui waka was commanded by the chief Hoturoa. On its voyage the Tainui stopped at many Pacific islands, eventually arriving in New Zealand. Its first landfall was at Whangaparaoa Bay in the Bay of Plenty. Tainui continued on to Tauranga, the Coromandel Peninsula and Waitematā Harbour. From the Waitemata on the east coast, the canoe was carried by hand across the Tamaki isthmus (present-day Auckland) to Manukau Harbour on the west coast. From the Manukau, Tainui sailed north to Kaipara, then southwards to the west coast harbours of Whaingaroa (Raglan), Aotea and Kāwhia. It continued further to south of the estuaries of the Mōkau and Mohakatini rivers before returning north to its final resting place at Maketu in Kāwhia harbour.
Crew members disembarked at each landfall site along the way. Descendent groups formed several iwi, many associating under the Tainui confederation of iwi.
See also
References
- Craig, RD (1989). Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology. New York: Greenwood Press. p. 253.
- Stimson JF and Marshall S (1964). Dictionary of Some Tuamotuan Dialects of the Polynesian Languages. Salem: Peabody Museum. p. 485.
- Taonui, Rāwiri (21 December 2006). "Canoe traditions". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 10 April 2007.
- Te Tumu O Tainui. 1986.