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Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditiona...
Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions.

The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative divisions: Wairoa, Te Whanganui-ā-Orotū, Heretaunga, Tamatea, Tāmaki-nui-a Rua and Wairarapa. It is the third largest iwi in New Zealand by population, with 61,626 people (9.2% of the Māori population) identifying as Ngāti Kahungunu in the 2013 census.

Ngāti Kahungunu trace their origins to the Tākitimu waka. According to Ngāti Kahungunu traditions, Tākitimu arrived in Aotearoa from Rarotonga around 1100–1200 AD as one of the waka in the great migration. Other waka included Tainui, Te Arawa, Tokomaru, Ārai Te Uru, Mataatua, Kurahaupo, Aotea, Ngātokimatawhaorua, and Horouta.[2] According to local legend, Tākitimu and its crew were completely tapu. Its crew comprised men only: high chiefs, chiefs, tohunga and elite warriors. No cooked food was eaten before or during the voyage. The captain of Tākitimu was Tamatea Arikinui, also known as Tamatea Pokai-Whenua. He left the waka at Turanga, travelling overland until he arrived at Ahuriri in the Hawke's Bay Region. The waka Tākitimu itself continued its voyage to the South Island under a new captain, Tahu Pōtiki. It is from Tahu Pōtiki that the South Island iwi of Ngāi Tahu takes its name.

According to one account, Kahungunu was the great-grandson of Tamatea and was born in present-day Kaitaia. Other accounts indicate a more direct link, including that Kahungunu was the son of Tamatea. In either case, it has been widely recounted that Kahungunu traveled extensively through the North Island during his early adulthood, eventually settling on the East Coast of the North Island. He married several times during his travels, and as a result there are many North Island hapū that trace their lineage directly back to Kahungunu. Many of his marriages were arranged for diplomatic purposes, uniting various iwi against their enemies, forming bonds and securing peace. At some point, Kahungunu arrived at Māhia Peninsula, where he pursued and married Rongomaiwahine, a woman from Nukutaurua who was a chief in her own right. She was famously beautiful, and according to legend had issued a challenge to Kahungunu, insulting his charismatic reputation and inviting him to prove himself worthy of her. Kahungunu accepted the challenge, and after numerous trials succeeded in obtaining Rongomaiwahine's consent to marry. The iwi Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Rongomaiwahine both descend from this marriage.

The eldest son of Kahungunu and Rongomaiwahine was named Kahukuranui. His children included two sons, Rakaihikuroa and Rakaipaaka. Rakaihikuroa led a migration of his families and followers from Nukutaurua on the Māhia Peninsula to Heretaunga, the region known today as Hawke's Bay. Rakaipaaka remained in Nuhaka, where he remains the eponymous ancestor of the Ngāti Rakaipaaka hapū of that area. Accompanying Rakaihikuroa from Māhia to Heretaunga was a son from one of his first marriage, Taraia. Not long after their arrival in Heretaunga, Taraia succeeded Rakaihikuroa as the leader of their people, and he proved to be a proficient strategist in the struggle for dominance of the region, displacing the Whatumamoa, Rangitane, Ngāti Awa, and elements of the Ngāti Tara iwi, which lived in Petane, Te Whanganui-a-Orotu and Waiohiki. Within Taraia's lifetime, Heretaunga was brought under the control of his people, who became the first of the Ngāti Kahungunu in that area.
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