, looking towards
Pihanga. Te Rangi-ita was the son of
Tū-te-tawhā and
Hinemihi. His name at birth was Te Pukeihaua. Through his father, Te Rangi-ita was a descendant of
Tūwharetoa i te Aupōuri. Tū-te-tawhā had been killed along with his brother Te Rapuhora during a war with
Ngāti Apa. The two of them had joined their cousin
Waikari in an attack on the Ngāti Apa fortress Rangi-te-taea, which was located at the foot of
Mount Pihanga on the coast of
Lake Rotoaira. Tū-te-tawhā and Te Rapuhora decided to go into the fortress and speak to Ngāti Apa directly, covering themselves in
kōkōwai (
red ochre), since touching someone with
kōkōwai was a method of cancelling out someone's
tapu. Their wives said "your
kokowai has an evil smell; it is an omen of misfortune," but they replied "No; it is a sign of good luck." They went by canoe to Rangi-te-taea and were welcomed into the village, performing the
hongi with all the men and women. Then the Ngāti Apa
rangatira, Umu-ariki and Miromiro killed them, cut off their heads, and threw them into the latrine.
War with Ngāti Tama Ngāti Tama were an
iwi of
Te Arawa that had settled on the west bank of Lake Taupo. Te Rangi-ita's great-uncle, the Tūwharetoa ariki, Rua-wehea, who lived at Whaka-uenuku at
Karangahape, established himself as the overlord of Ngāti Tama, but he exercised this position in an arrogant manner. Therefore, when Rua-wehea came to visit the Ngāti Tama at Whanganui, they burnt some weeds, so that he would think that food had been prepared for him, then they welcomed him onto their
marae, and killed Rua-wehea, along with all of his companions, except for the young Te Rangi-ita, who escaped. When he heard what had happened, Rua-wehea's cousin,
Waikari, who was also an
ariki of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, gathered a war party of 800 men of Tūwharetoa, at his base on Motu-o-puhi island on
Lake Rotoaira, just south of the southern end of Lake Taupo. Then he led this force to attack the main Ngāti Tama village, Keri-tāne, located on the north bank of the
Waihāhā River, where it flows into Lake Taupo. They attacked the village in a dawn raid and slaughtered many of Ngāti Tama without a fight. While the fighting was going on one of the Ngāti Tama
rangatira, 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. As a result of this deed he received the name Te Rangi-ita (‘the sky strikes with intent to kill’) instead of his earlier name Te Pukeihaua.
War and peace with Te Ata-inutai tree. During the Ngāti Tama-Ngāti Tūwharetoa war, Waikari had attacked and killed the
Ngāti Raukawa rangatira Poutū. His cousin, Te Ata-inutai, subsequently gathered a war party to get revenge for this killing. He led this force down the Waikato River and along the east coast of
Lake Taupō. After taking Pōnui at
Rangatira Point and killing Waikari at Koro-tanuku (modern
Tauranga Taupō), Te Ata-inutai came to Whakāngiangi (near modern Te Rangi-ita), where most of the Tūwharetoa warriors had gathered under the command of Te Rangi-ita and Tūmata-ngaua (they had been warned of his approach by
Tūwharetoa a Turiroa, who had escaped the slaughter at Pōnui). Te Ata-inutai's forces attacked the fort, but its defences were too strong for them, so they settled into a siege. During the siege, Te Ata-inutai was struck by a spear made of
mānuka wood, which pierced both of his buttocks. He shouted up to the defenders, asking who had hit him, and when Te Rangi-ita revealed that he had thrown the spear, Te Ata-inutai called him down and made peace with him, giving him his daughter, Waitapu as a wife. After this Te Ata-inutai returned to Whaka-puhunga, while Waitapu and Te Rangi-ita settled at Marae-kōwhai north of Lake Taupō, near
Mōkai. The genealogical links (
whakapapa) resulting from the marriage between Waitapu and Te Rangi-ita are recounted in a
waiata by Peou, which is included in
Āpirana Ngata and
Pei Te Hurinui Jones' collection of
waiata Nga Moteatea.
Marriage and murder of Te Ata-inutai For a long time, Te Rangi-ita and Waitapu had only daughters and, as a result, Te Rangi-ita stopped visiting Waitapu. She said to him "The river at Nukuhau is still open," meaning that she was still able to bear children (Nukuhau was a village located at the source of the
Waikato River), but Te Rangi-ita did not listen, so she left Marae-kōwhai, travelling home to her father, who performed special
karakia ('incantations') and told her that if she returned to Marae-kōwhai and had sex with Te Rangi-ita, she would bear a son, which is what happened. In Hoeta Te Hata's account, however, the rituals were carried out by a nameless
tohunga (priest), Waitapu came home already pregnant, and Te Ata-inutai planned to kill his grandchild if it proved to be male, but Waitapu covered the baby's front and tricked him into believing that she had given birth to another daughter. When Te Ata-inutai heard of the birth of Waitapu's first son, he set out for Marae-kōwhai in order to perform the
tohi baptismal ritual for the newborn, who was called
Tama-mutu. On his way home, however, Te Ata-inutai was ambushed and killed at
Waipapa, below the Pou-a-kani cliff by a war party of Ngāti Tūwharetoa led by a
rangatira called Kewha (according to Pei Te Hurinui Jones), in revenge for the earlier deaths of Hine-te-ao and Waikari. Hoeta Te Hata says that the killer's name was Kūha and that the murder took place on the
Mangakino Stream. According to him, Te Ata-inutai was taking his oldest granddaughter,
Pare-kāwa, back to Marae-kōwhai. Eventually, Te Rangi-ita and Waitapu's youngest son
Tū-te-tawhā arranged for
Whiti-patatō of Ngāti Raukawa to lead a war party that avenged Te Ata-inutai's murder by attacking the Ngāti Tūwharetoa settlement of Tuhinga-mata. Although Te Rangi-ita called on Whiti-patatō to lead his force to Marae-kōwhai quickly, he stopped in the Kainga-roa district, saying "Not yet! I am going to rove (
tihoi) about this plain" or "my path must be a hidden one (
tihoi), from which the plain received the name
Tīhoi. ==Family==