Ruatapu
Polynesian canoeist and flood-associated figure in oral traditions.
Ruatapu is a figure in Polynesian oral traditions, known as a master canoeist and a son of the great chief Uenuku. He is notable for his travels across central Polynesia and for his role in flood-related narratives, particularly in Māori and Cook Islands lore. Most Māori accounts describe him as an older half-brother of Paikea and 69 other sons, while Cook Islands traditions sometimes present him as an only son.
Quick Facts
- Gender
- Male
- Region
- Polynesia
- Ethnic group
- Māori, Cook Islands Māori
- Consort
- Uanukukaiatia/Uanukutapu
- Tapotuki Tonga
- Tutunoa (Cook Islands)
- Offspring
- Tamaiva
- Moenau
- Kirikava
- Te Arauenua
- Te Urutupui
- Tongirau
- Touketa (Cook Islands); Hau (Māori)
- Parents
- Uanuku Rakeiora/Uenuku, Unnamed slave woman (Māori)
- Siblings
- Taiē
- Ina (Cook Islands) Paikea
- Ira
Facts from the source article.
Cook Island traditions
In the Cook Islands, Ruatapu is consistently portrayed as a descendant of Iro-nui-ma Oata who lived with his father Chief Uanuku Rakeiora at Taputapuatea on Ra'iātea. From boyhood he dreamed of voyaging to his own island to become ariki, and he built the canoe Te Kareroaitai from a tamanu tree. After eight or nine days at sea, he reached Avarua Harbour at Rarotonga, where Chief Potikitaua of Avananui village told him the island's ariki was Chief Tangiia. Ruatapu settled there, marrying a woman from Uanukukaiatia or Uanukutapu, and had a son named Tamaiva. Four years later he left Rarotonga alone, eventually arriving at Tongatapu after many days and nights. There he met Tapotuki Tonga, who informed him that the ariki was Chief Kaukura. Ruatapu stayed with Tapotuki Tonga and had another son, Moenau. Before departing again, he instructed Tapotuki Tonga's father Rangiura to take Moenau back to Rarotonga to share chiefly authority with Uanukukaiatia and Tamaiva. Rangiura built the canoe Pouara for the voyage, but it capsized on a reef at a place called Vaenga; the landing site was named Pouara after the canoe. A man named Anga brought them to Uanukukaiatia and Tamaiva, who were jealous and refused to take Moenau in, instead sending him to the Ngaputoru islands (Atiu, Ma'uke, and Mitiaro) to become ariki. After five days of rest and repairs, Rangiura and Moenau set out again but struck bad weather; Rangiura was killed on the reef of Ma'uke, while Moenau survived and was taken in by the local people.
Māori traditions
In Māori traditions, Ruatapu is always a son of Chief Uenuku, ariki of Hawaiki, and is belittled by him for being born of a slave wife, which prevented him from using a sacred comb in his hair. In every telling except for Paikea, Ruatapu kills Hawaiki's nobility aboard a canoe. One version recounts that after being belittled for using the sacred comb of his elder brother Kahutiaterangi, Ruatapu enticed most of Uenuku's children into his canoe, sailed them to the ocean, and sank it in an event called Te Huripureiata. Kahutiaterangi survived with the help of a whale and was thereafter known as Paikea. Ruatapu then convinced the gods of the tides to destroy the land and its inhabitants; Paikea fled to high ground and was saved by the goddess Moakuramanu. In one version Ruatapu drowned and his bowels became the first jellyfish, or the rebuke came when he walked on the roof of Uenuku's house. Another telling says Ruatapu used Uenuku's own hairpiece, believing himself the senior son, though Kahutiaterangi was senior by lineage. Ruatapu built a large canoe holding 140 people, announced he would set off in it, and then killed everyone aboard with a spear except Paikea, who was saved by the gods.
More in Flood Myths
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced