Rihi Puhiwahine was born near the now abandoned pa of Petania and was brought up at Oruaiwi. She married John Gotty in the 1840s and lived in Wanganui. She became an accomplished "and much-respected composer, singer and performer of popular action songs of her tribe. She travelled extensively with Taupo people to visit other tribes and her skill was widely appreciated. Her song for Te Mahutu, her cousin with whom she fell in love, became the most popular of the many songs she composed." She died at Ongarue.
Biographical sources
- Countless Signs: The New Zealand Landscape in Literature. Comp. Trudie McNaughton. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed Methuen, 1986. 378-379.
Other
- "He Waiata Aroha Mo Te Toko (Mahutu)/A Love Song for Te Toko (Mahutu)." Nga Moteatea (The Songs) A Selection of Annotated Tribal Songs of the Māori with English Translations. Comp. Sir Apirana Ngata. Pt. 1. 1928. 150-151 (including notes). Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Polynesian Soc. 1959. Facsim. ed. 1972 (with the addition of Sir Apirana Ngata’s draft introduction of 1949 and a page of errata to 1959 edition, supplied by Mr Pei Te Hurinui Jones). Rpt. 1974. Rpt. Auckland, N.Z.: Polynesian Soc., 1988. Rpt in "Puhiwahine - Māori Poetess: Second Instalment." Pei Te Hurinui Jones. Te Ao Hou 29 (1959): 17-21. Rpt. as "Ka Eke Ki Wairaka/On The Summit of Wairaka." Te Ao Hou 50 (Mar 1965): 20-21. A transcription of the music of this waiata in "Transcriptions of Authentic Māori Chant." Mervyn McLean. Te Ao Hou 50 (1965): 38-42. Rpt. in Countless Signs: The New Zealand Landscape in Literature. Comp. Trudie McNaughton. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed Methuen, 1986. 147-148. In Māori and English.
- While travelling around the country Puhiwahine fell in love with a distant cousin, Te Mahutu Te Toko, but marriage was forbidden by Puhiwahine’s people and her brothers decided to take her back to Taupo. On the way they stopped at Owairaka, where Puhiwahine composed a love song for Te Mahutu in which she professes her ‘outpouring love’ and her sadness at having to leave Te Mahutu. The song became very popular and when Mahutu heard it he wrote a song in response (See Te Ao Hou 29 (1959): 18-19). Mervyn McLean transcribes the music for this waiata and writes an explanatory article entitled "Transcriptions of Authentic Māori Chant." (Te Ao Hou 50 (1965): 38-42).
- "He Waiata na Puhiwahine mo Hauauru." In "Puhiwahine - Māori Poetess: First Instalment." Pei Te Hurinui Jones. Te Ao Hou 28 (1959): 11-16. [Song on p. 13].
- Pei Te Hurinui Jones writes that this song was written during a time when Puhiwahine was deeply depressed by Hauauru taking other wives. Her own love for Hauauru was thwarted when her brothers forbade her to marry a married man because it would have reduced her to a position of secondary wife. On learning that Hauauru had taken another wife, Puhiwahine was overcome with melancholy, and composed two songs expressing her love for Hauauru. Jones provides an English translation for these songs.
- "He Waiata Aroha mo Hauaru." In "Puhiwahine - Māori Poetess: First Instalment." Pei Te Hurinui Jones. Te Ao Hou 28 (1959): 11-16. [Song on p. 14].
- Puhiwahine expresses her great sadness at separating from Hauauru and her abiding love for him. Jones provides an English translation alongside the Māori text.
- "An Action Song." In "Puhiwahine - Māori Poetess: First Instalment." Pei Te Hurinui Jones. Te Ao Hou 28 (1959): 11-16. [Song on p. 14-16].
- Pei Te Hurinui Jones writes that this song was written after Puhiwahine’s trip to the South and in it she mentions a number of famous chiefs who were also relatives. Jones provides an English translation alongside the Māori text.
- "He Waiata Mo Te Pakanga (A Song of War)." In "Puhiwahine - Māori Poetess: Second Instalment." Pei Te Hurinui Jones. Te Ao Hou 29 (1959): 17-21.
- This song was written in quite a different vein to Puhiwahine’s other waiata. Here she mourns the loss of her people in war, and predicts worse things to come in the future.
- "He Waiata Ki Ana Whaiaipo/Song of a Coquette" In "Puhiwahine - Māori Poetess: Third Instalment." Pei Te Hurinui Jones. Te Ao Hou 30 (1960): 10-13.
- In Māori with English translation.
- "Te Oriori a Puhiwahine." In "Puhiwahine - Māori Poetess: Fourth Instalment: Grandmother To Be." Pei Te Hurinui Jones. Te Ao Hou 31 (1960): 17+. In Māori with English translation.
- Puhiwahine’s two sons John and George Gotty married Parewahawaha women and settled at Ohinepuhiawe. When Puhiwahine heard that her two daughters-in-law were pregnant she wrote this oriori which Pei Te Hurinui Jones considers unique because it was written before the babies were born. Jones writes that another noteworthy aspect of this oriori is its thematic difference to other oriori. Jones states: ‘the lullabies of our race usually have as their theme the ancient myths and traditions, the tribal battles, and other historical incidents - all linked together with the names of famous ancestors.’ In this oriori, however, Puhiwahine draws attention to a famous greenstone brooch which was presented by the Duke of Edinburgh (Te Tiuka o Ienepara) and she writes of her grandchildren whom she describes as koata kaihe (quarter-castes), and makes reference to the Pakeha ‘who has overrun and lost us this land.’
- "He Waiata Mo Nga Mahi Whenua/A Song about Land Affairs." In "Puhiwahine - Māori Poetess: Fourth Instalment: Grandmother To Be." Pei Te Hurinui Jones. Te Ao Hou 31 (1960): 17+. In Māori with English translation.
- Puhiwahine attended the Māori Land Court sittings in Taupo and Otorohanga in the mid-1880s when Maniapoto chiefs requested the Land Court to investigate titles of their tribal lands. On her departure from Otorohanga Puhiwahine sang this song which expresses her sorrow at disputes over ancestral lands.
- "Ka Noho Au Ka Tangi/I Sit Down And Weep." In "Puhiwahine - Māori Poetess: Fourth Instalment: Grandmother To Be." Pei Te Hurinui Jones. Te Ao Hou 31 (1960): 17+. In Māori with English translation. [Title is first line of the fragment].
- This is a fragment of a song which was given to Pei Te Hurinui Jones by Te Keehi. Jones writes ‘according to Te Keehi it was composed by Puhiwahine as an introductory stanza to the action song at the end of Chapter 3. Te Keehi’s account is that Puhiwahine, late in her life, had suffered from some mental illness, and that it was thought she was a victim of makutu (witchcraft)’. Jones, however, contends that the fragment ‘would fit better with the "Song About Land Affairs"’.
- Jones, Pei Te Hurinui, "Puhiwahine - Māori Poetess." Te Ao Hou 28 (1959): 11-16; 29 (1959): 17-21; 30 (1960): 10-13; 31 (1960): 17+; 32 (1960): 12-14; 33 (1960): 18-19; 34 (1961): 12-18.
- Jones, Pei Te Hurinui. Puhiwahine, Māori Poetess. Christchurch, N.Z.: Pegasus, 1961.
- McNaughton, Trudie. "Biographical Notes and Selected Bibliography." Countless Signs: The New Zealand Landscape in Literature. Comp. Trudie McNaughton. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed Methuen, 1986. 378-9.