Kurahaupō

In Maori tradition, Kurahaupō was one of the great ocean-going, voyaging canoes that was used in the migrations that settled New Zealand.

In Taranaki tribal tradition, Kurahaupō is known as 'Te Waka Pakaru ki te moana' or 'The Canoe broken at sea', and was reputed to have arrived in Aotearoa in the same generation as the other great migration vessels of the Māori ( although unlikely to have been at arrived at the same time ) like Aotea, Mataatua, Takitimu, Tainui, Arawa etc. This proverb, or whakataukī describes how the waka suffered multiple accidents and why the tribal traditions of other descendent groups all differ. There are multiple accounts of the voyage of the waka, and the people who sailed in it, that differ widely depending on which area the tradition originates from. While all are correct, this divergent discourse has contributed to various theories printed on this waka by S. Percy Smith and company, and subsequently republished and referenced through generations of scholars. This includes the popular theory that there were two vessels named Kurahaupō. In fact, there was probably only one vessel, but it carried different names and changed captains several times.