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Kahumatamomoe ( Kahu for short) was a Māori rangatira (chief) in the Te Arawa confederation of tribes. He undertook several exploratory journeys around the upper North Island of New Zealand on his own and with his nephew Īhenga. Lake Rotorua's full name is Te Rotoruanui-a-Kahumatamomoe and was named by Īhenga to honour his uncle. Kahumatamomoe himself is said to have named various locales, including Horohoro, Kaipara Harbour and Waitematā Harbours. He might have lived in the late fourteenth century.
Kahumatamomoe disputed the ownership of a kumara patch with Tama-te-kapua, claiming that since he had cultivated the land it should be his. The people mostly agreed with Kahumatamomoe, so Tama-te-kapua decided to leave and settle at Moehau. Tuhoromatakakā accompanied him north. Tama-te-kapua died at Moehau and Tuhoromatakakā died shortly afterwards, as a result of breaching tapu. Tuhoromatakakā's son Īhenga carried out the funeral for his father and then came to Maketu, to ask Kahumatamomoe to lift the tapu of the funeral from him.
Īhenga snuck into Kahumatamomoe's house and seated himself on Kahumatamomoe's pillow, a sacred spot. When he heard of this, Kahumatamomoe came storming in, intending to kill the invader for the insult, but he recognised Īhenga as his nephew, welcomed him, and cleansed him of the tapu. First, he washed him in the Kaituna River. Then he carried out the pure ritual, cutting off Īhenga's hair and tying it to a stone which was deposited in a sacred place. Then his daughter presented them with a meal of sweet potato, carefully averting her face so that she did not breathe in any of the steam; Kahumatamomoe gave Īhenga some of the kohukohu moss in which the kumara had been cooked and led him in offering it to stone images and to their deceased relatives. Finally, Kahumatamomoe spat on the kohukohu and offered it to Tama-te-kapua. D. M. Stafford gives translations of the karakia (incantations) that were sung during these rituals. After the purification, Kahumatamomoe allowed Īhenga to marry his daughter Hinetekakara. Īhenga dug up the pounamu earring that his father had ripped from Kahumatamomoe's ear and gave it to his new wife. Seeing this, Kahumatamomoe mourned for his brother and granted the earring to his daughter.
At Kaipara, the travellers met with Taramainuku and he gave them his daughter Hinetu-te-rauniao, to be married to Kahumatamomoe's grandson Uenuku-mai-rarotonga. The travellers were presented with a great feast, including baskets of Ptisana salicina. Kahumatamomoe was so impressed with the para, which he had never had before, that he named the region Kaipara ("eat para"). After this, Kahumatamomoe began his journey home, travelling to Waitematā Harbour, where he placed a mauri stone on Boat Rock. The name Waitematā ("Waters of Kahumatamomoe") refers to this event. He boarded a canoe at Takapuna, passed Motuihe and Paritu on Waiheke Island, and came to Moehau, where his father and brother had been buried. There he met another nephew, Huarere, who informed him that his father and brother's bodies had both been disinterred and taken away. He named the mountain Moehau-o-Tama ("Sleeping spirit of Tama-te-kapua") and declared the area sacred and off-limits. On the shore he sand a lament for his brother at Tangi-aro-o-Kahu ("facing lament of Kahu"), visited the memorial stone for his brother at Te Kohatu-whakairi-a-Ngatoro, placed a stone on top of a hill called Tokatea. He named a bay where they saw aua fish Waiaua. He praised Huarere's land and departed.
Kahumatamomoe rested and enjoyed the breeze at Muri-aroha-o-Kahu ("Kahu's sighs of love") on the Waihou River. He stopped on a mountain and looked back mournfully to Moehau and forward to Titiraupenga where Tia and Māka had settled, so the peak was named Aroha-tai-o-Kahu (Kahu's seaward love) and Aroha-uta-o-Kahu (Kahu's landward love). Travelling along the Tauohanga Range, he came to a forest, where he chanted a song to make it stop raining and the place was named Pātere-o-Kahu (The chant of Kahu or the drenching of Kahu). Finally, he arrived at Parawai.
Immediately after his return, Hinetekakara told Kahumatamomoe that Marupunganui, the rangatira on Mokoia Island in the middle of Lake Rotorua had left his island. Therefore he took a canoe over and remonstrated Marupunganui's son Tuarotorua, reminding him not to leave the island. From there, he took the canoe to Toanga, and travelled through the forest on foot. When his grandson was thirsty, he sung a karakia and stomped on the ground, causing a spring to burst forth at Te Waitakahi-a-Kahu (The water of the stomping of Kahu). Finally, he came to Maketu, where he was visited once more by Īhenga, before he died of old age.
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