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Manaia, a MythSource painting
Polynesian

Manaia

01Identity

Manaia in Polynesian tradition

In Grey’s Ngāti-Awa migration account, Manaia’s departure from Hawaiki begins with betrayal at home. While he is away fishing, men he gathered to make spears attack Rongotiki. A fish hooked by its tail signals what has happened. Manaia retaliates; in the fighting he recognises a young warrior as his son, before further attacks drive his people to leave.

Aboard the Toko-maru, the party follows its dog to Aotea. Another canoe has landed first, and Manaia accepts its proof before sailing farther south to Waitara. Grey’s account says Manaia’s people kill those already living there. The voyage and settlement are told alongside the violence that precedes and follows them, so the account’s claims about ancestry and occupation remain those of this particular recorded narrative.

SourcePolynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race: “Legend of the Emigration of Manaia, the Progenitor of the Ngati-Awa Tribes,” printed pp. 138-145

  • The source-named central figure of Grey’s Ngāti-Awa migration narrative. (Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race)
Top questions

The quick answers

02Family

Manaia’s family, at a glance

Manaia

with Rongotiki

Tu-ure-nuiKahu-kaka-nui-a-Manaia
03The myths

The myths of Manaia

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Manaia leaves Hawaiki for a new home

Manaia gathers neighbours to make spears. While he is at sea catching fish, the men assault his wife, Rongotiki. His hook catches a fish by the tail, a sign that his wife has been wronged. He returns and uses the fish to let Rongotiki know that he understands what has happened. Manaia prepares revenge, even telling the men to make their spears strong and heavy so they will be harder to wield. In the attack that follows, a young warrior claims the first enemy killed in the name of Kahu-kaka-nui, son of Manaia. Manaia realises that this brave fighter is his own son. Tupenu flees; Manaia catches and kills him.

Tupenu’s people retaliate, killing many of Manaia’s followers. Manaia decides to leave Hawaiki with Rongotiki, his children, dependants and remaining people. The party crosses the sea in the Toko-maru. Their dog scents land, swims ahead, and leads them to Aotea, where a whale has stranded on the beach. Another canoe arrives and claims to have landed first. Manaia accepts their proof and moves on with his people, travelling south to Waitara. There they find people already living in the land, and Manaia’s party kills them before claiming the area for his descendants and tribe.

Manaia leaves Hawaiki for a new home, a MythSource painting of the scene