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Story: Whanganui tribes

‘Te ringa mahi kai’

‘Te ringa mahi kai’

From 1819 Ngāpuhi swept through the Whanganui region. In one incident Tūwhare of Ngāpuhi led a raiding party against Te Hā Mārama and his people. Tūwhare was wounded but not killed, and he taunted Te Hā by saying that his hand was ‘he ringa mahi kai’ – the hand of a food provider. However Te Hā replied that he had spared Tūwhare so that he could tell others of Te Hā’s fierceness. This taiaha (long club) then took on the name ‘Te ringa mahi kai’.

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How to cite this page

David Young, Whanganui tribes – Wars, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/2181/te-ringa-mahi-kai (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by David Young, published 4 March 2009, updated 22 March 2017.

Comments

Harriet
28 May 2018
The story is published on Te Papa's website: https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/132624. You can seek further information from them directly by using their enquiries form: https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/about/contact-us/general-enquiries.
Te PuawaitangaOTeAo Karahina
24 November 2017
Kia ora, can u tell me where you got this pakiwaitara from, this story??? i am just wondering how you managed to get maori history from 1819 and how factual this information is, especially when you have named the iwi of my tupuna. I have never heard such thing especially when my ancestors were of both places, i would like to see you sources, the evidence to whonm wrote this pce of information, that you have published for the world to read.