Tohu Kākahi

Tohu Kākahi (?–1907), of the Taranaki tribe Te āti Awa, was born during the period of great turmoil known as the 'musket wars'.

Like his relative and fellow prophet Te Whiti o Rongomai, also of Te Āti Awa, he was said to have been regarded early in life as a teacher and prophet. Later he gained a deep knowledge of Christian doctrine.

It is claimed that Tohu confirmed Pōtatau Te Wherowhero's son Tāwhiao as the second Māori King, and was for a time his spiritual advisor. Tohu was also said to have participated in the Taranaki wars of the 1860s, but by the mid-1860s he had, like Te Whiti, decided to pursue peaceful but firm resistance to European incursion and the loss of land.

By most accounts Tohu moved after the Taranaki wars to the Parihaka settlement where, with Te Whiti, he led the people. Parihaka became a centre of peaceful resistance and a rallying point for many Māori. Acute Māori discontent focussed on land confiscation and the government's failure to set aside promised reserves.

In 1879 the government began to survey 16,000 acres of the confiscated Waimate Plain without setting aside Māori reserves. In response, Māori, led by Te Whiti and Tohu, began ploughing land occupied by settlers, and building fences across roads that cut through their cultivations. Arrests followed, but the pace of protest continued to grow. Many tribes throughout New Zealand provided the Parihaka people with food and other supplies during this time, trekking from their homes to the settlement. These expeditions became a phenomenon of the Taranaki coast, much to the annoyance of government officials.

On 5 November 1881 a force of almost 1,600 Armed Constabulary and volunteers, led by Native Minister John Bryce mounted on a white stallion, invaded Parihaka. The Māori inhabitants, numbering about 2,000, offered no resistance, greeting Bryce and his men with bread and song. They were dispersed and Tohu and Te Whiti were arrested. The settlement was then systematically wrecked by the soldiers, and Māori tradition speaks of brutality and rape.

Tohu and Te Whiti were charged with 'wickedly, maliciously, and seditiously contriving and intending to disturb the peace'. They were held without trial, and were not released until 1883, when they returned to the ruined Parihaka settlement and began to rebuild it. They continued to lead peaceful Māori protest. Unlike some others at Parihaka, Tohu refused to be influenced by European ways. He advised his people to stay out of debt and away from European vices such as drink. He denounced taxes, which he believed were charged unfairly against the Parihaka people.

Tohu died in February 1907. Te Whiti died a few months later.

Adapted from the DNZB biography by Alisa Smith

• Read the full biography in Te Ara Biographies 

Tohu Kākahi

Nō te iwi o Te Āti Awa o Taranaki a Tohu Kākahi (?-1907). I whānau ia i te wā o ngā pakanga mau pū a ngā iwi. Pērā i tōna huānga a Te Whiti, i puta i a Tohu ngā tohu o te matakite. Ka mau hoki i a ia te hōhonutanga, te whānuitanga o te whakapono Karaitiana. Ko te whakapae, nā Tohu a Tāwhiao, te tama a Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, i whakawahi hei Kīngi tuarua, ā, ka noho a ia hei kaitohutohu i a Tāwhiao mō te taha wairua. E mea ana hoki te kōrero i kuhu a Tohu ki ngā riri i Taranaki i te tekau tau atu i 1860. Heoi, pērā i tana huānga a Te Whiti, ka whai a Tohu i te ara o te mautohe mārire ki te kuhu a te Pākehā me te rironga o ngā whenua.

Ko te kōrero a te nuinga, nō muri i ngā riri o Taranaki ka neke a Tohu ki Parihaka. Ko rāua ko Te Whiti ngā kaiārahi o te iwi ki reira. Whāia, ka hau te rongo i te iwi Māori mō Parihaka hei pokapū mō ngā mautohe mārire, hei wāhi whakakotahi i te Māori. Ka nui ngā āwangawanga o te iwi Māori mō ngā whenua i raupatutia, mō te takahi a te kāwanatanga i ana kī taurangi e mea ana ka rāhuitia he whenua mō te Māori.

I te tau 1879 ka tīmata te kāwanatanga ki te rūri i ngā whenua e 16,000 eka te rahi i raupatutia i Waimate, kāore i rāhuitia he whenua mō te Māori. Hei utu mō tēnei, ka ārahina e Te Whiti rāua ko Tohu ā rātou tāngata ki te parau i ngā whenua kei te nōhia e ngā tāngata whai, ki te whakatū taiepa haukoti i te huarahi o te Pākehā. Ka whiua ētahi o rātou ki te whare herehere. Ahakoa tērā, ka nui haere ngā mautohe. Ka tukua mai he kai, taputapu, aha noa ki Parihaka e ngā iwi puta noa i Aotearoa. Ka nui te hunga i takahi i te huarahi mai i ō rātou kāinga kia tae ki Parihaka. He mea rerekē ki ngā Pākehā tēnei te haerenga atu o te tini Māori, hōhā pai ana ngā āpiha a te kāwanatanga.

I te rā 5 o Nōema o te tau 1881 ka urutomokia a Parihaka e ngā Pirihimana Mau Pū me ngā tūao 1600 te rahi hui katoa, i raro i ngā whakahaere a te Minita mō ngā Take Māori, a Te Paraihe, i runga i tōna tāriana mā. Kāore i ātetetia tā rātou kuhu atu e ngā Māori e 2000 pea te rahi. Kua hora te parāoa mā rātou, e waiata ana te iwi. Tē arohia atu. Ka wāwāhia ngā kāinga, ka tutea te iwi kia marara. Ka mauherea a Te Whiti rāua ko Tohu. Kei reira ngā kōrero tuku iho mō ngā tūkinotanga a ngā hōia, tae atu ki te pāwhara i ngā wāhine.

Ka whakapaetia a Tohu rāua ko Te Whiti mō te “whakatutū puehu i runga i te kino me te ngākau waniwani”. Ka mau rāua ki te whare herehere, kāore he whakawākanga. Nō te tau 1883 kātahi anō rāua ka tukua. Taro ake, ka hoki rāua ki te whakatū anō i a Parihaka. Ka arataki tonu rāua i ngā mautohe mārire. Kāore a Tohu i whai i ētahi ka hiahia kia whakaurua ngā taputapu papai a te Pākehā ki Parihaka. Ko tana tohutohu ki ana pononga, kaua e nui te nama, kaua hoki e pā atu ki ngā taonga kino a te Pākehā pērā i te waipiro. Kāore ia i whakaae ki te tikanga tāke, i runga i tana whakapae kei te utaina te tāke nui rawa atu ki runga i te iwi o Parihaka.

Nō te marama o Pepuere o te tau 1907 a Tohu i mate ai. Kāore i pau te tau ka mate a Te Whiti.