POROPOROAKI

Tu Tangata, Issue 1, 1 August 1981, Page 3

POROPOROAKI

Rangimotuhia Katene

Hikohiko te uira, papaa te whatitiri, pookarekare te moana, ngaruerue ana te whenua, wheekee ana te raakau ko te tohu raa o te mate, huee! Kua hinga te tootara nui i te wao nui a Taane; kua whati te tara o te marama; kua ruku te kawa i taana ruku; kua ngaro raa i te ngaro a te moa. Koia teenei, ko Rangimotuhia he tohunga, he tauira noo roto ake o te aao koohatu, i tuturi ai oona turi,i areare ai oona taringa ki toona tohunga ki a Hoori Paamu Tinirau o Te Aati Haunui-a-Paapaarangi; i teenei raa kua hee, kua hee.

Rangimotuhia was the last of the tohunga class living in the Whanganui area. His links with that tribe were through his father’s line, while his moth belonged to Nga Rauru and Ngati Ruanui of Taranaki. He spent his early life at Parihaka, where he studied under the prophets Te Whiti and Tohu. At the age of twenty-one he moved to Jerusalem, Whanganui, where his eldest brother Tamakehu was the leading tohunga of the local whare wananga. Rangi became a chosen student of Hori Paamu Tinirau of Ranana, and after the deaths of

these two learned men Rangi became the acknowledged tohunga throughout the river.

His tangi was held at Maungarongo Pa, Ohakune, and he was buried at Jerusalem. He was eighty-seven when he died.

Haere, e Rangi. Haere ki nga manu tioriori o runga o Taranaki, o runga o Ruapehu; ko nga maunga eenaa o Te Kahui Maunga, o Paerangi. Whaaia te Wahaati o ngaa kaaunga, o ngaa kaahika o tuawhakarere. Haere! Haere! Haere!

RUKABROUGHTON