A close Ancestral connection exists between Ngati Awa and the tribes of the East Coast and Bay of Plenty

Te Ao Hou, April 1958, Page 31

A close Ancestral connection exists between Ngati Awa and the tribes of the East Coast and Bay of Plenty I have followed the faint trail of tradition from the Poverty Bay and East Coast districts to Te Kaha, Whakatane and Rotorua. The genealogical evidence with the assistance of fragments of songs and karakia and patchy traditions would appear to associate the art with the pre-Takitimu folk of

that area, but to deny knowledge of carving, canoe building, and house construction with New Zealand timber to Kahungunu, who is said to have come in Takitimu. The Ngati-Awa of Whakatane, the Whakatohea of Opotiki are closely related to the Te Kaha, East Coast and Poverty Bay tribes. The intercourse between the Bay of Plenty and Poverty Bay tribes is a recognised feature of tribal history. They were all Toi people—Toi-kairakau was the ancestral root of all land tribes. The Wairoa and Hawkes Bay Ngati Kahungunu were founded from Gisborne. We find Te Uaterangi, who some say was a Hawkes Bay ancestor, engaged in carving a house at Taupo and it was there that one Riripo, an Arawa, “stole his chisel” (stole the art of carving) and met his death by falling or leaping from a cliff—Te Pari-o-Riripo.