Title / object name Korowai hihima (cloak)
| Maker | Role | Date |
| Unknown | weaver | 1800 |
Materials harakeke
| Dimensions |
| Overall | 1140 (Height) x x 1660 (Width/Depth) mm |
| Approximate | 1650 (Width) x 1145 (Length) mm |
Classification cloaks, costume
Technique hand weaving
Registration Number ME002072
Credit LineGift of W Leo Buller, 1911
This type of cloak is referred to as a hihima (cloak with undyed tassels) because of the undyed dressed flax used in manufacture that gives the garments their beautiful plain white appearance. This example is from Poroutawhao (located between Levin and Foxton in the lower North Island) and belongs to the Ngati Huia tribe, a hapu (sub-tribe) of Ngati Raukawa from the Waikato region. There is a concentration of black hukahuka (tassels) at one border accentuating the top of the garment, and coloured woollen sides woven in decorative loops. This woollen decoration was worked into the weaving after completion of the base garment.
Hukahuka
Hukahuka are made by the miro (twist thread) process of dying the muka (flax fibre) and rolling two bundles into a single chord. Korowai seem to have been rare at the time of Captain Cook's first visit to New Zealand because they do not appear in drawings made by his artists. But by 1844, when George French Angas painted historical accounts of early New Zealand, korowai with their black hukahuka had become the most popular style. Hukahuka on fine examples of korowai were often up to thirty centimetres long and when made correctly would move freely with every movement of the wearer. Today, many old korowai have lost their black hukahuka due to the dying process speeding up the deterioration of the muka.
Pre-European colour
Before the arrival of European settlers and modern materials such as wool, colours were sourced from indigenous materials. Paru (mud high in iron salts) provided black, raurekau (shrub: Brachyglottis repanda) bark made yellow, and tanekaha (celery pine: Phyllocladus trichomanoides) bark made tan. The colour was set by rolling the dyed muka (flax fibre) in alum (potash).