Kaputuhi Pa is the cultural center for Ngati Kaputuhi, a hapu of Ngati Maniapoto.  Kaputuhi, the ancestor, traces her line of descent from Kurawari, a daughter of Raukawa.  Her husband, Taitengahue, descends from the celebrated Maniapoto.  They had three children, Maniauruahu, Parekura and Tarawehi. It was Parekura’s descendents alone who adopted the hapu title Ngāti Kaputuhi and later built a meeting house, naming it after their ancestor, Kaputuhi.

That meeting house stands today at Hangatiki.  However it was originally located north, at Waikeria. In times past, Ngati Kaputuhi had kainga there, in particular at Whenuahou and Te Waiaruhe.  Loss and alienation of lands in this area meant Ngati Kaputuhi had to look elsewhere for a turangawaewae.

To the west were Ngati Kaputuhi’s Ouruwhero lands around the Te Kawa district.  In 1908, Makereti Hinewai Grace, being the principal elder of the hapu, had the meeting house removed to, and re-erected at, Te Kawa.  The honour of opening the meeting house was given to a young Mere Amohanga who uttered the words “Cuppa Tea”, rather than Kaputuhi. In 1912 Te Kawa itself was gazetted as Kaputuhi Township. By the late 1930s the 'Te Kawa meeting house', for reasons unknown, had fallen into disuse. 

Meantime members of the large Amohanga-Nikora family living at Hangatiki were seeking to build a marae to cater for their community activities.  Here were the lands of their grandfather, Rawiri Te Hauparoa.  He belonged to, among others, the local Ngati Taiwa and Ngati Rungaterangi hapu.  He could claim descent from Kaputuhi through her son Maniauruahu and was Makereti Hinewai’s first husband.  Their only son was Nikora Te Amohanga whose widow, Werawera Hetet, had set aside land for a papakainga at the base of the Pukeroa hill, not too far distant from the Mangapu stream. In 1947 the family, led by Rewi Turner and Te Rehe Te Amohanga, undertook the dismantlement and removal of the Te Kawa meeting house.  This was strongly opposed by many residents of Te Kawa.  The matter was the subject of a Native Land Court hearing and several hui. Kaputuhi, the ancestral house was eventually re-erected at its present site at Hangatiki.  To adorn her, a pou was carved, Parekura.  She stands out front to cry the call of welcome to visitors from afar.  At her feet is her pet lizard which has come to symbolise Ngati Kaputuhi. The carved tekoteko above is of course none other than Taitengahue, standing guard over his wife and daughter. 

For over fifty years Kaputuhi Pa has witnessed many an activity and occasion - school visits, meetings, reunions, weddings, birthdays and of course tangihanga.  The old kauta has been replaced by a more modern day kitchen and dinning room, Muri-aroha.  The flag-pole has perhaps seen better days.  Like so many other rural communities, Hangatiki is but a remnant of days of old.  A generation has passed and most families have gradually moved away.  Yet Kaputuhi Pa still continues to be the gathering place, shelter and focal point for the people of Ngati Kaputuhi.

Na Rore Stafford and Paul Meredith