Ngāpuhi Kowhao Rau I

‘Ko te kōwhao-rau he kupenga, ko te kōwhao-rau he whakapapa, ko te kōwhao-rau he kāinga-rua, he kāinga-toru, ko te kōwhao-rau he whanaunga-maha, na reira, mātou i ora ai, nā te kōwhao-rautanga’

‘The kowhao-rau we speak of can be likened to a net with many holes. Kowhao-rau refers to genealogy and relationships. Kowhao-rau can be likened to a second and third house. Kowhao-rau refers to our many kin relationships. And that is why we have survived, because of all of these separate but related connections’

Dr Patu Hohepa, Waitangi Tribunal, He Whakaputanga me te Tiriti, Wai 1040, p 36; transcript 4.1.1, Te Tii Marae, pp 106, 112;

This particular image shows a toa 'Māori warrior' stretching out a kupenga 'net'. The entwined tiki figures on the right are symbolic of the two brothers Uenuku Kūware 'ignorant rainbow' and Kaharau the children of the eponymous Ngāpuhi ancestor Rāhiri. The polemical divisions of east and west and the support of these two Nortland regions (i.e Hokianga and Taumārere 'Bay of Islands) towards one another is signified in a number of wānanga 'stories' and whakataukī 'proverbial sayings' that have been passed down.