Pikiao (Ngāti Pikiao)

Te Kawatapuarangi married Rangikawekura mentioned earlier and they begat Pikiao the first. Pikiao the first had Rakeiti their first born was Te Epaorehua a female. Their second born was also a female; their third born was another female Te Tiukahapa. At this point Kawatapuarangi began to despair because he had no male heir to take his fame abroad and he put it to his son Pikiao like this:

"Pikiao-nui-a-kawa, i aitia koe i to wahine kia whiwhi he tane, ma wai taku kauae e to ki uta".

"Pikiao you have cohabited with your wife but who will take my fame abroad".

He advised his son Pikiao to abandon his wife and to go to Mount Pirongia in the Waikato and there approach a certain chief Ruaroa who had a maiden daughter Rereiao whom he might take to wife. Pikiao took the advice and left. In leaving, his wife took umbrage and murmured, "Pikiao you might continue to cohabit with me, the capacity to bear children is still with me". And this is borne out in the classical saying kei te tuhera tonu Te Awa-i-Takapuhaia, which is the name given to the stretch of water leading down into the Kaituna River.

Pikiao married Rereiao and begat Hekemaru whose descendant is now sitting on the throne in Waikato. On his return to his first wife Pikiao was confronted with a son that was born in his absence. Because of his irritation at the delay in getting a son he named the child Kawiti meaning the curve on the tattoos of my brow

Erima Henare cited other examples. According to the whakapapa, Rāhiri marries Ahuaiti and has Uenuku. Uenuku marries Kareariki, after whom the hot pools in Ngāwhā are named ‘Ngā Mokai a Kare Ariki’, and they have Uewhati. And Uewhati has Uetaoroa, and Uetaoroa marries Pikiao. Uetaoroa’s brother Ueoneone marries Reitu from Tainui. Uetaoroa marries Pikiao: Ngāti Pikiao are the whānau of Te Arawa that live on the lakes at Rotoiti. They are also the descendants of Pikiao through another woman. Why do we mention Pikiao? Because it leads to the naming of this valley or actually that hill known as Mōtatau, although the people from Pipiwai have another view of that. Pikiao has a mokopuna. The name of the wharehui on the marae at Rotorua Polytech is called Ihenga Paraoa. This tupuna Ihenga, mokopuna of Pikiao, is what you call a taunaha. He wanders over the countryside naming places, including many places in Taitokerau, as he made his journey, and one of them is here at the foot of the mountain. At Kaitoki, at the foot of the Mōtatau mountain, is Te Waitohi a Ihenga, the baptism waters of Ihenga. It is a pool of water fed by an underground spring. He either had a baptism rite there or something for a child. Ihenga, who sees this pool, gives the valley or mountain its name. In his recitation, he says, ‘rite tonu ki ngā tatau o te reinga’; this pool looks like the gateway to the spirit world. At some point then, it is assumed that Ihenga, in his journeys got to Te Rerenga Wairua. At Te Rerenga Wairua, if you go down to the pōhutukawa, our tupuna says you get onto te aka ki te reinga, the branch that dips down into the water. In the water is a hole, and the rimurimu, the seaweed waving around in that hole are different in colour to the seaweed outside it. Ihenga names this place Mōtatau by looking into Waitohi a Ihenga, which he says rite tonu ki ngā tatau o te reinga, looks just like the doorway to the spirit world. The question remains whether he thought the place looked like a spirit-world doorway, or he had been to Te Rerenga Wairua and thought the pool of water in the bush looked like that, but either way the name stay

Sources

Aotea Harbour. (n.d). Our people.
https://aotea.maori.nz/our-people