Takitimu

Tākitimu

Great Māori migration waka
Commander	Tamatea Arikinui, Kahukura, Arutanga,Tangiia
Iwi	Ngāti Ruapani, Rongowhakaata, Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Ngāti Ranginui

Tākitumu was a waka with whakapapa throughout the Pacific particularly with Samoa, the Cook Islands and Aotearoa / New Zealand in ancient times. In several Māori traditions, the Tākitimu was one of the great Māori migration ships that brought Polynesian migrants to New Zealand from Hawaiki.

The Tākitumu was an important waka in the Cook Islands with one of the districts on the main island of Rarotonga consequently named after it. Sir Tom Davis, Pa Tuterangi Ariki, KFE, wrote in the form of a novel, a fascinating account of 300 years of voyaging of the Tākitumu by his own forebears as told in their traditions.

The Tākitimu appears in many traditions around New Zealand. Most accounts agree that the Tākitimu was a sacred canoe. Many also give the name of the captain as "Tamatea", although in different forms.

Accounts from the northern East Coast indicate that the Tākitimu left Hawaiki after two brothers, Ruawharo and Tūpai, took the canoe from their enemies and escaped to New Zealand. The vessel landed on the Māhia Peninsula and the crew dispersed: Ruawharo stayed at Māhia, Puhiariki went to Muriwhenua in present-day Northland, while others moved to Tauranga.

According to Ngāti Kahungunu, the Tākitimu was captained by Tamatea Arikinui, who landed and settled in the Tauranga area. Some of his descendants gave rise to Ngāti Kahungunu. Others journeyed along the east coast, including two tohungas: Ruawharo, who settled at Te Māhia; and Tūpai, who settled in the Wairarapa. Command of the vessel was given to Tahu Pōtiki, who travelled up the Wairoa River, and later to the South Island, where he became the founding ancestor

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Wikipedia