Pu Te Kōmuhumuhu – Kahukiwi / Kiwi Feather Cloak

The name Te Kōmuhumuhu connects this taonga to a place near Lake Rotoiti. Oral histories shared by Timi Te Po and Hone Rapana tell of their tūpuna Ruatohatuha hearing whispers, or kōmuhumuhu , while camping in the area. As night fell, he is said to have seen Patupaiarehe gathered around a fire, eating raw food.

Nine generations later, another tuupuna called Ruatohatua  received a vision  of an Ariki  arriving from the west. He commissioned a cloak in honour of this premonition, and entrusted this to to kuia and master weaver Te Akauroa of Ngaati Kaawiti who led a group of waahine to create the kaakahu in around 1851.

Many efforts were made to present Te Kōmuhumuhu to the first Maaori King, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, and then his son Kiingi Tawhiao, however this was unsuccessful.

Kiingi Korokii Te Rata Mahuta Tawhiao Potatau Te Wherowhero was the fourth Maaori King. He and, first cousin, Te Puea Herangi  stayed with Ngaati Pikiao at Ngaa Punawhakareia marae where Kiingi Korokīi  officially opened the meeting house Uenuku mai Rarotonga for Ngaati Pikiao  . Kiingi Korokī later invited elders of Ngaati Pikiao to the opening of Te Kotahitanga Marae in Ōtorohonga. They attended and requested a Poukai to be held in their own rohe.

Kiingi Koroki gave Pikiao elders the right to name the wharekai  and the name Kaawiti was gifted. The cloak Te Kōmuhumuhu was then gifted so that all whaanau there at Tuakau, having whakapapa ties to both Rotorua and Waikato would never forget:

“herea te wiri o te kiki ka kori matata”

“Fast and tight are the tassels of that cloak so it will never be broken” - meaning the connections, the whakapapa.

After being sold by a whaanau member in need, the cloak was presented to Thomas Purvis Russell, an early settler in Hawke’s Bay held in high regard by East Coast Maaori. On return to Scotland, the cloak travelled with Russel and remained at the family’s country estate, Hattonburn, for many decades. In 1981, his descendants Sheila Montgomery Widgery and Gael Graham returned it to Aotearoa, where it was purchased for the Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum and Gallery collection by the Friends of Waikato Museum.

Te Akauroa’s expertise is evident in the fine taaniko borders running along three sides of the cloak. She wove her name into the lower right border, preserving her identity and craftsmanship for future generations. The inclusion of Tauponui, a settlement in the Lake Rotoiti district, further affirms provenance and links the cloak to its place of origin.