Ta Moko

Question 1

What did Ta Moko do to the skin?

Answer 1

scare and make it bumpy

Question 2

Where do men traditionally get Ta Moko?

Answer 2

On their whole face

Question 3

Where do Women traditionally get Ta Moko?

Answer 3

On their chins and lips

Question 4

What types of people get Ta Moko?

Answer 4

High born people and leaders who are looked up to

Question 5

Awheto

Answer 5

Dried and fired vegetable catapillars used to make pigment which is then mixed with shark oils

Question 6

Ipu Ngarahu

Answer 6

Container used to hold the pigment for Ta Moko

Question 7

Uhi

Answer 7

Chisels used for Ta Moko

Question 8

Metal Tools

Answer 8

Used after encounters with Europeans to create more intricate carvings and fine lines

Question 9

What has changed with regard to tribal territories since 1840?

Answer 9

They have become more static

Question 10

Mataora and Niwareka

Answer 10

• Example of a Myth template
• Niwareka was from the underworld, her and Mataora fell in love but he hurt her so she ran back to the underworld
• So Mataora dressed up with paintings to win her back but they all got wrecked from the rain
• Learnt Ta Moko from people of underworld to make it permanent and win back Niwareka
• “Mataora replied ‘look on my moko; if it had been painted it might wash off, but as it is a moko cut in the flesh by you it is permanent and cannot be washed out, I will adopt in the future the ways of this world and it works.”
• Today- “Your beautiful inked face tattooed by the chisel of Mataora”

Question 11

Mihi Kotukutukutu

Answer 11

• Te whanau-a-Apanui, Ngati Porou

- Had her photo taken, but she was too tapu to be tattooed by the Tohunga moko as they feared getting her blood on them

Question 12

Tomkia Te Mutu

Answer 12

• Ngai Te Rangi, Ngai Tuwhiwhia
• known for the high quality of his moko
• Painted by Lindauer

Question 13

Joel Polack (1840)

Answer 13

-“Many chiefs whose counterances have never been seen by teh distant tribe, are known simply by the distinguishing mark which has been peculiarly engraved on their counterances. We had several opportunities of testing this fact, from having taken some likeliness of teh chiefs residing at teh north, and showing them to some families resident at distances upwards of 400 miles, they were immediately distinguished and named, through no connexion existed between those persons, or had they even at any period seen each other.’

Question 14

Te Peehi Kupe

Answer 14

• 1820s goes to England
• Draws his own Ta Moko and those of his immediate whanau ‘freehand and sight unseen’
• “European man write with pen his name. Te Peehi’s name is here [on face]”

Question 15

Memory

Answer 15

• very important for tracing whakapapa

- 3000+ names, pen and paper couldn’t even write this out in a sensible readable manner

Question 16

Te Rangihaka

Answer 16

-Wrote a text at some point between 1849 and 53 explaining tattoo practices etc. which is still used to understand this today

Question 17

Examples of Ta moko as signatures

Answer 17

• Te Rauparaha signed legal documents such as deeds of sale with his
• Many chief used theirs to sign the Treaty

Question 18

Translations

Answer 18

• need to be aware that no direct translation of words exists, only the best possible option
• translations and word choice vary by translator

Question 19

Rawina Higgins reading

Answer 19

• Focuses on Moko Kauae, the moko on the lips and chins of women
• critiques the work of Simons as it is predicated on the 8 strata organization belief and their is no evidence of these
• Uhi could not have given fine details
• Argues instead that moko kauae were instead standardized designs with only minor variations as is shown in the work of Major Horatio Robley, Goldie, and Lindauer
• grounded in Tuhoe history
• argues that her own emersion is more accurate than western sources and that there is no linguistic or historical evidence for what Simmons has said and that she has not observed it with her own eyes