Taurapa (stern post)

Taurapa Waka (canoe stern piece). Made from wood. Te Arawa (stylistic attribution). Purchased 1977 (photographed )

The taurapa forms the stern-piece of a waka (canoe), particularly a superior class of waka such as a waka-taua. The principle, and dominant, design pattern that characterises the taurapa is the pitau or takarangi spiral. At the base of the taurapa sits a carved human-like figure, from under which extend two slightly curved long rib-like forms that run about ¾ the length of the taurapa, upon which sits a carved stylised beaked figure called a manaia. The human-like figure at the base of the taurapa is puhi-kai-ariki, an ancestral atua (deity) who oversees the crew. The two elongated ribs are said to represent the 'dual life principles of ira-atua, the gods, and ira-tangata, humankind. Taurapa were traditionally decorated with two long trains of feathers that trailed like long streamers, made from feathers of the kereru, that would run from the inside base of the taurapa, up its length, across the top and fall to the water line below and behind the waka. These 'feather trains' were sometimes referred to as puhi-rere. "The upper puhi was fixed as a resting-place for the gods of the heavens, and named puhi-ariki (sometimes puhi-kai-ariki). The puhi at the base of the taurapa, touching the water, was arranged as a clinging-place for the gods of the ocean, and named puhi-moana-ariki."