The ātiTama–NgātiTūNgāti Tama–Ngāti Tūwharetoa War was a conflict which took place around 1600 on the west coast of Lake Taupō in the central North Island of New Zealand, in which Ngāti Tūwharetoa fought against the Ngāti Tama iwi and a part of the Ngāti Raukawa iwi of Tainui. The war marked the end of Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Raukawa claims to the western coast of Lake Taupō. Thereafter, the whole lake was controlled by Tūwharetoa.
Background
Ngāti Tama (full name Ngāti Tamaihu-toroa) were an iwi of Te Arawa that had been driven out of the Bay of Plenty region and migrated south, where they settled in Tainui territory on the west shore of Lake Taupō, establishing a number of villages in the area, including: Ōpurakete, Waihora, Marae-kōwhai, Hingarae, Keri-tāne at Waihāhā, Whanganui, Hikurangi, and Purukete. They had three rangatira, Rongo-hauā ('Lame Rongo'), Rongo-hape ('Club-foot Rongo'), and Te Atua-reretahi ('The God-of-one-flight').
At this time, Ngāti Tūwharetoa had already gained control of the northern and eastern coasts of Lake Taupō from Ngāti Kurapoto and Ngāti Hotu in the course of the Ngāti Tūwharetoa invasion of Taupō. One of their ariki, Rua-wehea, who was a grandson of Tūwharetoa and lived at Whaka-uenuku at Karangahape, had built up a great deal of mana and therefore was able to establish himself as the overlord of Ngāti Tama. He exercised this position in an arrogant manner – whenever he encountered Ngāti Tama while travelling in his canoe, he would blow his pūkāeaea (bush falcon trumpet) and shout out curses, "Cooked heads! Your brains, your brains!" or "Your brains, your brains! Prepare food for me!" Every time this happened, Ngāti Tama had to have food ready for him as soon as he landed.
Course of the war
Massacre at Whanganui
After about a year, Te Atua-reretahi met with Poutū-te-rangi, a chief of Ngāti Raukawa, who resided at Manukueke on the west coast of Taupō or at Maraeroa in the Hauhangaroa Range west of Taupō. When Poutū heard how Rua-wehea treated the people of Ngāti Tama, he advised that they should kill him and gave Te Atua-reretahi a whale-bone mere called Paroparo-humeia with which to do the deed.
The next time that Rua-wehea came to visit the Ngāti Tama at Whanganui, blowing on his pū kāeaea, they burnt some weeds, so that he would think that food had been prepared for him, then they welcomed him onto their marae, and led him into a house with a low doorway, where Rongo-hape was waiting at the window, Rongo-haua at the centre of the room, and Te Atua-reretahi at the back of the room or hiding behind the door. As Rua-wehea bent over to go through the door, Te Atua-reretahi grabbed him, saying "Man with Rongomaiwhiti, strike!". They killed Rua-wehea and all of his companions, except for a young boy, Te Rangi-ita, who escaped. Ngāti Tama cooked and ate some of the victims immediately, but the rest were hung up on ropes under the waterfall at Hingarae. According to Samuel Locke, Rua-wehea's slave escaped from the massacre and told Tūwharetoa what had happened. According to Hoeta Te Hata, it was not a slave, but Te Rangi-ita who brought the news. When Tuwharetoa visited Ngati Tama, they denied all knowledge and suggested that his canoe might have capsized, but they found his body hung up at Hingarae and worked out what had happened from the head wound. Pei Te Hurinui Jones says that the rope holding up the body of Rua-wehea broke during the night and his corpse drifted out onto the lake, where it was found by a canoe of Tūwharetoa.
Attack on Keri-tāne
Rua-wehea's cousin, Waikari, who was also an ariki of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, gathered all the hapu of Tūwharetoa, at his base on Motu-o-puhi island on Lake Rotoaira, just south of the southern end of Lake Taupō. After performing the peruperu war dance, the assembled chiefs agreed that Ngāti Tama must be destroyed in revenge. Waikari made a special effort to recruit a great warrior called Tūmata-ngaua. Once all the forces were gathered, he led a war party of 800 men to attack the main Ngāti Tama village, Keri-tāne, located on the north bank of the Waihāhā River, where it flows into Lake Taupō.
The Tūwharetoa forces marched by night to Whaka-uenuku above the Karangahape cliffs at the south end of Lake Taupō at Kuratau. When they got there, they cooked up some pepe aruhe (small cakes made of fern root). Since Tūmata-ngaua had no food of his own, Waikari gave his cake to him. The forces then travelled by canoe under the cover of darkness until they reached the coast just south of the Waihāhā River.