Tōia Mai

I whānau a Piri Poutapu ki Maungatautari i te tau 1905. Ko Pouaka Winikerei rāua ko Rangitaau Paraki ōna mātua. I te tau 1921 ka haere tahi atu ia ki Ngāruawāhia me tana whaea whāngai, me Te Puea Hērangi ki te hāpai ake i tā Te Puea wawata kia tū te marae o Tūrangawaewae. He kāmura a Piri, he tohunga whakairo waka, he tohunga whakairo kupu. 

I titoa e ia te whiti tuarua o ‘Tōia Mai’ i te tau 1936 nōna e whakairo ana i ngā waka e whitu, i tohua rā e Te Puea hei whakamaharatanga i ngā iwi o te motu i tere mai nei ki Aotearoa i ngā waka o Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, i Hawaiki rā anō.

Piri Poutapu was born in Maungatautari in 1905. His parents were Pouaka Winikerei and Rangitaau Paraki. In 1921, he travelled to Ngāruawāhia with his whāngai mother, Te Puea Hērangi, to help fulfill her vision of establishing Tūrangawaewae Marae. Piri was a skilled carver of canoes as well as a carver of words.

In 1936, he composed the second verse of 'Tōia Mai' depicting the seven canoes, which Te Puea had envisioned would commemorate our voyaging histories as people of the Pacific Ocean who sailed throughout Polynesia to Aotearoa.