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italic=no is a notable ancestor who originated in Hawaiki according to Māori tradition. He is particularly known to tribes with origins in the Gisborne District such as italic=no, and italic=no. italic=no is the name assumed by italic=no because he was assisted by a whale to survive an attempt on his life by his half-brother italic=no.
On the island of Aitutaki, he is also known as a brother of Ruatapu, but is not as famous as him. In an account, probably from the Kāti Kurī hapū of Ngāi Tahu, the family lived on Mangaia.
Some tellings also say Uenuku had built a canoe for his 70 sons and set about to do their hair with sacred combs for the first voyage, or that Ruatapu was about to use Uenuku's own sacred comb rather than Kahutia's. Either way, Ruatapu is told he cannot use any sacred comb because of his heritage, and is shamed.
In other accounts, the rebuke came when italic=no dared to walk on the roof of italic=no's house.
In some versions, italic=no himself transformed into the whale. In some tellings Ruatapu simply slays everybody with a spear once they're out at sea - again with the exception of Paikea who takes to the oceans and is saved by the gods.
The eighth month of the Māori calendar is Kohitātea (December-January) according to Ngāi Tūhoe.
The waves of italic=no
The episode where italic=no threatens to return as the great waves of the eighth month may explain other accounts which portray italic=no as having invoked a great flood which destroyed Hawaiki. Such accounts or conclusions may result from Christian influence. According to italic=no's account in the italic=no accounts, italic=no shouted out to italic=no that he would return to fight him: "The great waves of the eighth month, they are me! I am then approaching!" In an endnote, Reedy writes:
In the eighth month of the Māori calendar, in the early summer, large waves known as ngā tai o Rangawhenua, italic=no's waves, sometimes break upon the shore on the East Coast. In this episode italic=no announces that in the eighth month he will take this form, and follow italic=no.
italic=no connection
italic=no is the Ngāti Porou hapū that is closely associated with Whangara, a small settlement located between Gisborne and Tolaga Bay. Oral traditions of the hapū state that italic=no came to New Zealand from italic=no on the back of a whale following an event known as Te Huripureiata, a slaughter of the first born sons of italic=no at sea. According to tradition, the whale turned into stone, and is now the island of italic=no (also known as Te Toka a Rangi or Te Ana o Paikea), immediately offshore.
Kāti Kurī version
In a version probably recorded from Kaikōura, Paikea was the youngest of Uenuku's sons, and his favourite, which made the other siblings incredibly jealous of him. His brothers plot to kill him, intending to slay him out on a fishing trip and tell Uenuku that he drowned. Paikea, through feigning his sleep that night, learned of the plan, and so deliberately sunk the canoe the next day himself, killing his brothers. Paikea alone remained alive, clinging to the remains of the canoe for survival, awaiting his death. Suddenly, a tohorā came to his aid, and carried him all the way to Whāngārā.
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