Koro and Moko Fishing, Part Four: Īhenga and Hinetekakara

A story of Ngāti Whakaue, as told by Norma Sturley

Koro rests in Hinemoa’s Pool, quietly reflecting on the kōrero of the day. The sun is at its highest and he is keen to continue fishing before heading back to their kāinga at Waikuta. Moko asks him about how Ōhinemutu got its name. He relates to her the story of Hinetekakara, the wife of Īhenga, who was killed and whose entrails were hung on a tree.

Ōhinemutu was given its name by the great explorer Īhenga, grandson of our Te Arawa ancestor and captain of Te Arawa waka, Tamatekapua. After the interment of his father Tūhoromatakakā in Hauraki, Īhenga settled in Maketū. He fulfilled his promises to his father and his sacred rites and duties to his father’s brother, Kahumatamomoe. He eventually married Hinetekakara, his first cousin and daughter of Kahumatamomoe.

When īhenga was away from home for a while, on one of his explorations, his wife, Hinetekakara, was captured and killed by the descendants of Ika, who some say, were the original settlers of this area. They took her body back to Whānakenake (Waitetī) where they tossed her entrails (organs) into the lake.

Some versions of this story say it was Īhenga’s daughter, Hinetekakara, who was murdered. Stories when being re-told tend to change over time and whether or not it was his daughter or his wife who was killed, the grief, the rage, the feelings of Īhenga and the outcome were still the same.

Īhenga returned to Parawai at Ngongotahā. Realising his wife was nowhere to be found, he went searching for her and discovered her remains hanging on a tree stump in the water at a beach a little north of Ngongotahā. He named that area Hākaipuku because of his discovery.

This story comes from the original Great Te Arawa Stories website created by Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru (NPeW) Education Trust in 2018. To ensure consistency, minimal updates were made to the text before it was transferred to this new site.