NZ Folk Song * Ruawharo

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Ruawharo was the tohunga on the voyaging catamaran Takitimu.
When it sailed from Rarotonga to New Zealand and traveled down
the East Coast, Ruawharo left it at Mahia and settled there.
Today, the marae at Opoutama village is named after him.

Ruawharo, Ruawharo
He tohunga nui
He tohunga maia
Ki tona iwi
I hoea mai ra
Tawhiti nui, tawhiti roa
Tawhiti pamamao.
Kia kite rawa i Te Pari o te Ra¹
Nga pipiwai Oraka^MAP
Nga oneroa o Te Mahia.

Ruawharo, Ruawharo
Te waha ki o te
waka nei
Ko Takitimu e
Ko wai ra e kau ana?
He taniwha, he tipua
Ko Ruamano e
Kia whakahuka mai te moananui
te whanau a Tinirau
Te tangi mai a Tangaroa.

Ruawharo, Ruawharo
Anei to hoa wahine
Nga Nuhaka e
He wahine toa
He wahine karihika e
Taiporutu, Taiwananga^MAP
Te motu tapu o Waikawa^MAP
Me heke tāua
Ki Te Waikokopu^MAP

E te iwi, e te iwi
Nga mihi ki te whare tipuna nei
Ko Ruawharo e
He tuanui i te ata o nga maunga
Ki Opoutama e.^MAP
Piki ake, kake mai ra
te karanga o Rongomaiwahine
Nau mai haere mai ki Te Mahia

Ko Tamatea Te Arikinui
Ko Ruamano te taniwha
Ko Takitimu te waka tipua
He tohunga nui
Ko Ruawharo e

Ruawharo, Ruawharo,
was the high priest
(brave and capable)
of his people
who sailed from
a great distance, a long distance
a very remote distance
to see Young Nick's Head,
then the lagoon at Oraka,
and the long beaches of Mahia.

Ruawharo, Ruawharo,
was the spokesman for
this vogaging catatamarn
"Takitimu"
And who was swimming along with it?
A monster, a magic being
the mako shark Ruamano
that made the ocean foam,
the relative of Tinirau
crying to Tangaroa.

Ruawharo, Ruawharo,
Here's your wife
Nga Nuhaka
a brave woman
a sexy woman
at Taiporutu, Taiwananga,
and the holy island of Waikawa
after our arrival
at Waikokopu.

Everybody, everybody
Give thanks to this ancestral house
Ruawharo marae
A roof in the shadow of the mountains,
near Opoutama.
"Come up, come up"
is the call of Rongomaiwahine;
"Welcome to Mahia."

Tamatea was the high chief
Ruamano the helpful mako shark taniwha
for Takitimu the magic canoe
And Ruawharo
was its high priest.

1 Te Pari-o-te-ra. Hoaki returned home to Hawaiki on the voyaging catamaran
"Te Aratawhao" to get seed kumara from Pari-nui-o-te-ra, the Great Cliffs of the Sun,
         and Young Nick's Head at Gisborne was given the same name in memory of that voyage.
               FULL STORY - scroll down to page 130

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Webpage put onto folksong.org.nz website May 2015
Page overhauled & counter added 26 Aug 2026.