Kupe

Kupe was involved in the Polynesian discovery of New Zealand.

There is contention concerning the status of Kupe. The contention turns on the authenticity of later versions of the legends, the so-called ‘orthodox’ versions closely associated with S. Percy Smith and Hoani Te Whatahoro Jury. Unlike the attested tribal traditions about Kupe recorded before Smith and Jury, the orthodox version is precise in terms of dates and in offering placenames in Polynesia where Kupe is supposed to have lived or departed from. The orthodox version also places Kupe hundreds of years before the arrival of the other founding canoes, whereas in the earlier traditions, Kupe is most definitely contemporary with those canoes (Simmons 1976). In addition, according to legends of the Whanganui and Taranaki regions Kupe was a contemporary of Turi of the Aotea canoe. In other traditions, Kupe arrived around the year 1400 on other canoes, including Tainui and Tākitimu (Simmons 1976:20-25).

Various versions:

• “Orthodox”: Kupe was a great chief of Hawaiki who arrived in New Zealand in 925 AD. He left his cousin Hoturapa to drown during a fishing expedition and kidnapped his wife, Kuramarotini, with whom he fled in her great canoe Matahourua. During their subsequent journeys, they overcame numerous monsters and sea demons, including the great octopus named as Te Wheke-a-Muturangi, and discovered New Zealand. Returning to Hawaiki, Kupe told of his adventures and convinced others to migrate with him
• Northland: Kupe is a discoverer and contemporary with, but older than, Nukutawhiti, the ancestor of the Ngā Puhi people. Kupe arrives, lives at Hokianga, and returns to Wawauatea, his homeland, leaving certain signs and marks of his visit.
• Āperahama Taonui of Ngā Puhi wrote that ‘Kupe came to this land in olden times’ to look for Tuputupuwhenua.^[5] ‘He went to all places on this island. He did not see Tuputupuwhenua on this land. Hokianga was seen, a returning of Kupe, that is (the meaning of) Hokianga. Under the earth are his and Kui’s dwelling’. The land was uninhabited (deserted). Āperahama adds a genealogy from Kupe to Nukutawhiti, the ancestor of the Ngā Puhi. ^[6] Nukutawhiti came ‘from overseas’ with his brother-in-law Ruanui in their canoe named Mamari. They met Kupe at sea, who told Nukutawhiti that Tuputupuwhenua was at Hokianga. When Nukutawhiti arrived at the mouth of the harbour, Tuputupuwhenua disappeared underground
• Kupe came in former times – he was the husband of Peketahi; they crossed over from the other side’ (of the sea). They lost a child, Totoko, at sea. When they arrived they had more children – Māui-mua, Māui-taha, and Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga. Rāhiri, an important ancestor of Ngā Puhi, descends from these children
• A tradition collected before 1855 from an unknown author names Kupe’s home island as Wawauatea. Kupe came and visited every part of this island. He lived at Hokianga until he returned home. He left several things behind, including his canoe bailer,^[9] and two of his pets at the mouth of the Hokianga harbour: Āraiteuru (male) and Nuia (female). On his return to Wawauatea he informed the men of the village that there was a good land to the south. Canoes were made, of which Matawhaorua, belonging to Ngā Puhi, landed at Hokianga. Other canoes are mentioned with details of their sailings (Simmons 1976:31)
• Simmons had access to a privately held manuscript from the Hokianga area^[11] which says that there were three Kupe in Hawaiki: Kupe Nuku, Kupe Rangi, and Kupu Manawa.^[12] Kupe Nuku came to this island in the Matahourua canoe, with his wife, two slaves, and nine others, with their wives.^[13] They took three days and nights to paddle to this island, Aotearoa. Kupe sailed around the whole island and saw no people. He left signs along the coast to show that they were the first to live there. At Hokianga he left the posts of his net and his earth oven, the footprints of his slave, and the bailer of his canoe. At Opara, he left his dog.^[14] When fish were baked in an oven, Kupe grew angry when the oven was opened and they were not cooked. He cursed his companions, sending the birds and lizards and insects into the forest to live, the spirit folk to the mountains, and the echo to the cliffs where he would be condemned to utter short speeches as he had done as his friends neglected the oven. Kupe returned to Hawaiki, but war broke out because of Tamatekapua. As a result, Kupe’s grandson Nukutawhiti leaves Hawaiki and lands in Hokianga