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Māori healer in the 1400s From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kahupeka (sometimes referred to as Kahu, Kahupekapeka or Kahukeke) was a Maori healer in the 1400s who helped pioneer herbal medicine in New Zealand.[1] She is remembered in oral history as a Tainui explorer who travelled the North Island, naming several locations and experimenting with herbal medicines.[2][3]
According to Pei Te Hurinui Jones, Kahupeka was a daughter of Rangaiho, son of Hape, son of Ngare, son of Rakatāura, a tohunga of the Tainui waka and his wife Kahukeke, daughter of Hoturoa, leader of the Tainui waka.[5] She grew up on Karioi and travelled to Kāwhia to marry Ue, the senior male-line descendant of Hoturoa (Jones gives the line of descent as Hoturoa, Hotuope, Hotuāwhio, Hotumatapū, Mōtai, Ue).[5] Kahupeka had one son by Ue, Rakamaomao.[5]
After Ue's death, she was grief-stricken and journeyed inland from Kāwhia. While travelling around the Waikato region, she is credited with naming many Waikato landscape features including Mount Pirongia and Te Aroha mountains.[3][6][5] According to Jones, she first stopped at Mount Pirongia, which she called Pirongia-te-aroaro-o-Kahu ("Smelly-in-front-of-Kahu"). According to Tom Roa, she gave it this name because of symptoms of an illness that she was suffering from, which may have been the after-effects of a miscarriage.[2] After this, she passed a stream which she named Manga-waero-o-te-aroaro-o-Kahu ("Creek-of-the-dog's-hair-apron-in-front-of-Kahu"), carried on to Te Aroha, which she named Te-Aroha-o-Kahu ("The Love of Kahu").[5] She decided to settle a little further south at a place that she named Te-Whakamaru-o-Kahu ("The Shelter of Kahu") and gathered the reeds for a house at Te-Whakakākaho-o-Kahu ("The reed-collecting-of-Kahu"), but the reeds were not good enough for building, so she carried on to the mountains west of Lake Taupō, which she named Hurakia-o-Kahu ("Exposing-of-Kahu").[5] She ran out of food at Maunga-pau-o-Kahu ("Mountain-of-the-starving-of-Kahu"), passed over Rangitoto-o-Kahu ("Bloody-sky-of-Kahu"), fell sick and recovered at Pureora-o-Kahu ("Recovery-of-Kahu") and finally settled and died at Puke-o-Kahu ("Hill-of-Kahu"). After this, her son Rakamaomao returned to Kāwhia.[4] Some of these claims are disputed, with many believing that it was her son who named Mount Pirongia.[1]
Stories suggest she experimented with native plants while attempting to treat her illness, specifically harakeke, koromiko, kawakawa, and rangiora.[2]
According to Ranginui Walker, Kahupeka was the wife of the tohunga Rakatāura, a tohunga, who settled at Rarotonga / Mount Smart (i.e. the woman that Jones calls Kahukeke).[7] In this version, Rakatāura gives Te Aroha its name after Kahupeka's death in Waikato, in honour of the love he felt for her.[7]
In 2018, the Royal Society Te Apārangi named Kahupeka as one of the 150 women who made 'valuable contributions to expanding knowledge in Aotearoa/New Zealand'.[1]
In August 2020, the Pūrākau children's series on Māori Television included an episode featuring Kahupeka.[8]
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