The Finding of Te Awhiorangi                article from Te Ao Hou No.51 June 1965

Te Awhiorangi is an adze, one of the most sacred possessions of the Maori people. It is said that in the beginning, when Tane separated Rangi the Sky and Papa the Earth, it was with this adze that he cut the sinews that bound them together.

Te Awhiorangi is said to have been brought to Aotearoa in Turi's canoe Aotea, which had been made from a tree felled with this adze. During the journey the Aotea was in danger of sinking into Te Korokoro-o-te-Parata, the Throat of Parata (the monster believed to be the cause of the tides). Te Awhiorangi, called upon by Turi in his incantations, is said to have saved them from the depths.

According to another version of the story, Te Awhiorangi was brought here in the Takitimu canoe by Tamatea-ariki-nui, who used the adze to cut a path through a storm encountered on the voyage. This account says that Te Awhiorangi passed to Nga Rauru after Turi's daughter Tane-roroa married Tamatea's brother, Uenga-puanake.

The name ‘Te Awhiorangi’ is usually translated as ‘The Encircler of Heaven.’

The Maori text published here is a contemporary account of the finding of Te Awhiorangi in 1887, after it had been lost for seven generations. Written by Wiremu Kauika, it appeared in 1888 in issue no. 71 of the Maori newspaper ‘Te Korimako.’ The translation is by ‘Te Ao Hou’.

All of the people of this land have heard of the axe named Te Awhiorangi, but they have not actually seen it. Nor have we of the Nga Rauru tribe seen it until now, though it was our people who hid this axe; it was hidden by our ancestor Rangitaupea. That was seven generations ago; and now, for the first time since then, we have found Te Awhiorangi. It is for this reason that we have permitted our friend Te Korimako to carry word of this wherever it goes, so that people all over the country, Maori and Pakeha, may hear the news.

Waitotara is about 20 miles north of Wanganui.

Friends, greetings to you. Near Waitotara there is a place of ours' called Okotuku. Twenty people belonging to that place were gathering hakekakeka (an edible fungus), which is sold at Waitotara for 4 ½d a pound. Now these people were accompanied by a young woman named Tomairangi, the wife of Te Potonga Kaiawha. This woman was a stranger in this part of the country and did not know the sacred places and the burial places, for she had come from the Ngai Tahu tribe; her mother belonged to Ngai Tahu, and her father belonged to our tribe, Nga Rauru.

This woman went away on her own, and saw a tree which had a great deal of fungus growing upon it. She went up to it and took the fungus in her hands. Then a flash of lightning came from the axe and the woman looked in that direction and saw the axe standing up against the root of a pukatea tree. Then she shouted with fear, and cried and sobbed. There came thunder and lightning and snow, and the woman lost her senses completely, and fled weeping. Her husband heard her weeping, and an old man named Te Rangi Whakairione, realising what had happened, chanted incantations.

Then the people assembled in an open place, and the old man asked, ‘Which of you has been to Tieke?’

The young woman said, ‘Where is Tieke?’

The old man said, ‘It is at the source of the Waione River.’

Then the young woman Tomairangi said, ‘I did not know that the place was sacred, but I saw something there, and it was like a god, and I was very much afraid.’

So they went and looked, and all of them knew that this was Te Awhiorangi. It was watched over by guardians, the descendants of Tutangatakino and Mokohikuaru. Then Te Rangi Whakairione chanted incantations, and after this they brought it away, and wept over it; then they took the axe, and laid it down a short distance from the settlement.

The place where the axe had been deposited had been known to all of Nga Rauru, because Rangitaupea had told his descendants where he had put it, saying. ‘The axe Te Awhiorangi is deposited at Tieke, in the open place above the cave where the dead are laid to rest.’ Since that time no-one had visited that place, but now, on the 10th day of December, 1887, it has been visited.

On the 11th day of the month there assembled together all of the people of Nga Rauru and some of Whanganui and Ngati Apa; that is to say, three hundred people, including women. The axe was exhibited to the people at about five o'clock in the morning; it was hung up in a tree so that all of the people could see it properly. The priests who were to chant the incantations went in front of the procession; their names are Kapua Tautahi and Werahiko Taipuhi. All of the people followed them, carrying in their hands green branches for the ceremonial weeping over Te Awhiorangi.

As they came near to the axe, thunder rolled and lightning flashed, and a mist came down, as dark as though it had been night. Then the priests chanted incantations, and when they had done this, it became light again. Then the people laid down their branches, and a number of cloaks. There were six parawai cloaks, four korowai cloaks, four paratoi cloaks and two dog skin cloaks. After this all the people wept; for a long time they continued to weep there. Then they sang a song concerning this axe Te Awhiorangi. Here it is:

E noho ana i te ro o töku whare
O te ao kai whitianga te ra a i.
Kei te mania kei te paheke i
Aka taringa me kohea to whare i tanumia ai.
Te muka mo to kaha whiri kaau
He muka ano taku i tu ki te aro auahi
Te angiangi matangi te whakararau o te rangi, i ei,
Kotia ki te uru o te rangi Te Whakapakinga,
Whakaupokoa te kaha mo nga atua mo taku Toki,
Ka hua hoki au i maka ki uta ki a Tane
Maka ki tai ki a Tangaroa hiringa wareware
Te ika wareware ou taringa whakaharore popoia mango
Ko te whakaipuipu te waka o Maru korenga te ika, i,
He wareware kihai i rongo i nga tupu i te hakunetanga
I te rukuhanga matua i te kahui kore ngaro atu ki te po-o, i
Te kitea ko Turou Pokohina, whakaturea niu wananga,
Ko Hahau Tunoa te waka o Te Kahuirua i ruku ai nga whatu-u-i,
Ka rewa ki runga ra ko te whatu a Ngahue hoaina
Ka pakaru Tehorutu whenua, Tehorotu Maunga,
Ko tumutumu ki rangi whakarawea ki a Kewa
Ko te kauri whenua whakarawea ki maui ko te i hono
Ko Te Awhiorangi whakarawea Rongo, haua iho
Ko teretere ki ao ko te kopu huri te ika ki rongomai
Koe ehara i te Toki Tuwareware ko te aitanga tena a
Hinepoa i ra Pawake e i, noku te tipuna i
Whiti ki rawahi ko Torokaha ko Te Rangiamio te waka a, i
He waka utanga nui taku waka ko Torohakiuaua
Ko whakamere te ika, he waka aha tou waka
Te waka hoenga nga hoenga papaki hoenga parareka
Te taroa te ngoringori ki runga, a, i.
He nui noa atu nga waiata mo Te Awhiorangi.

(The song is an ancient one, with words and allusions which are now difficult to understand. A translation has not been attempted here.)

There are very many songs concerning Te Awhiorangi.

O friends, and all the tribes of these islands, in appearance Te Awhiorangi is of a reddish colour, somewhat like the substance of which a china cup is made, but it is also speckled like the belly of the shining cuckoo. But indeed, this axe is like nothing but itself. When it is hung up, you can see yourself reflected it in. It is one foot six inches in length, and the blade is six inches wide. It is one inch thick. The edge is two and a half inches long, to give it sharpness such as that which the Pakeha puts on edges.

O friends, and all the tribes of these islands, this is the sacred relic of our ancestor Ruatitipua. He sought it amongst the Hosts of the Void (‘kahuikore’); when it came, it was the stone of Ngahue that is Te Awhiorangi, employed by Ngahue. It was employed by Tane at the time when Rangi the Sky Father and Papa the Earth Mother were still embraced; with it, Tane cut the sinews binding Rangi and Papa.

Rangi stood apart; Papa stood apart: from that time, Tane was known as Tane Tokorangi (‘Tane who propped up the Heavens’), and Te Awhiorangi became the representative and spiritual source (‘mana’) of all the axes in the world. The head of Te Awhiorangi is named Te Rangi Whakakapua, the cord is named Kaawekairangi, the handle is named Mataaheihei; Whakawhana-i-te-Rangi (the rainbow), hence Te Aheihei, standing in the heavens from which Te Awhiorangi in so noble a fashion descended.

From Tane Tokorangi it went to Kakaumaui, and so to Turi. It came to Aotearoa, crossing over to this land. It was given by Turi to his eldest son, Te Hiku-o-te-rangi, and was handed down as an heirloom by the aristocracy until the time of Rangitaupea, who placed it on his sacred mountains, on Tieke at Moerangi, according to a song about Te Awhiorangi.

Friends, we have this axe in our possession, we the Nga Rauru have it now, we who reside at Waitotara. Friends, greetings! May the Lord watch over us all. From your friend,

Wiremu Kauika

Kaipo, Waitotara, Titiriki, Takiwa o Taranaki, January 6, 1888.