He was "a high priest of Ngai Tara, the tribe who inhabited te upoko o te ika, or ‘the head of the fish’ (southern end of North Island), Whanganui-a-Tara (environs of Wellington harbour), now called Poneke (Māori for Port Nick - or Nicholson)."
Biographical sources
- Nga Moteatea: He Maramara Rere No Nga Waka Maha. The Songs: Scattered Pieces from Many Canoe Areas. Comp. A.T. Ngata. Trans. Pei Te Hurinui. Pt. 3. Wellington, N.Z.: Polynesian Soc., 1970. 3.
Traditional
- "An Ancient Māori Poem." English trans. and paraphrased by G. H. Davies and J. H. Pope. Notes by H. T. Whatahoro. Journal of the Polynesian Society 16.61 (Mar. 1907): 43-60.
- This karakia, of eight parts, was composed on the occasion of the birth of Tuhoto-Ariki’s great nephew Tuteremoana. Davies and Pope provide an introduction in verse form to the English paraphrase and H.T.Whatahoro writes explanatory notes for the poem. The poem describes the growth of the child in its mother’s womb, its birth and education.
- "He Oriori Mo Tu-Tere-Moana/A Lullaby For Tu-Tere-Moana." Nga Moteatea: He Maramara Rere No Nga Waka Maha. The Songs: Scattered Pieces from Many Canoe Areas. Comp. A.T.Ngata. Trans. Pei Te Hurinui. Pt. 3. Wellington, N.Z.: Polynesian Soc., 1970. 2-17
Other
- Taylor, C. H. R. A Bibliography of Publications on the New Zealand Māori and the Moriori of the Chatham Islands. Oxford: Clarendon; Oxford UP, 1972. 85.