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Kōrero: Tā moko – Māori tattooing

He tohunga tā moko, ko Tame Poata

Image
Tattoo expert Tame Poata

Ko Tame Poata te tama a Thomas Porter, he kānara i roto i te ope taua o Peretānia i whawhai ki ngā pakanga whenua o Aotearoa. I moe a ia i te kōkā o Tame, i a Te Rangi-i-pāea, he wahine whai mana nō Ngāti Porou. I tū a Poata ki ngā kakari ki ngā Poa i Awherika ki te Tonga, ki te raki mā-uru o Īnia, ki roto hoki i te Hokowhitu a Tūmatauenga ki Te Pakanga Tuatahi o te Ao. Anei a ia e mau ana i ōna mētara. Mai i te tau 1920 ka tīmata ana mahi hai tohunga whakairo, tohunga tā moko hoki. Tae noa ki tōna matenga i te tau 1942, ka kawea e ia ōna ngira ki Te Tai Rāwhiti, ki Te Urewera, ki Rotorua me Waikato.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Tama Te Kapua Poata whanau

Reproduction or reuse of this image requires permission from Tama Te Kapua Poata whanau.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Rawinia Higgins, Tā moko – Māori tattooing – Tohunga tā moko, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/41244/tattoo-expert-tame-poata (accessed 8 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Rawinia Higgins, i tāngia i te 4 April 2013.

Comments

BYRON GAMBLIN
04 February 2025
This was my great great great koro. There is even books written on how great of a man he was. I hold him in my heart because of what he bought to my family.
Prue Poata
12 January 2023
Kia ora. Tame Poata is my great grandfather. Please can you update this page with the correct name of Tame Poata's mother. Her name was: Herewaka Te Rangipaea. Her name was not Te Rangi i Pāea. SEE: Poata Seeing Beyond the Horizon (2012), page 297. Steele Roberts Aotearoa.