Kaore kau he kaumatua hei rite mo Te Rauparaha te mohio ki te whawhai, me te toa hoki, me te tino tangata ki te atawhai tangata.

There has never been a man equal to Te Rauparaha in terms of knowledge of warfare and prowess in battle, and in being so dedicated to looking after people.
-Tamihana Te Rauparaha

Te Rauparaha is most well known today as the composer of the haka 'Ka Mate', made famous the world over by the All Blacks. A major figure in nineteenth-century history, Te Rauparaha was responsible for rearranging the tribal landscape of a large part of the country after leading his tribe Ngati Toa to migrate to Kapiti Island. He is venerated by his own descendants but reviled with equal passion by the descendants of those tribes who were on the receiving end of his military campaigns in the musket-war era.

He Pukapuka Tataku i nga Mahi a Te Rauparaha Nui is a 50,000-word account in te reo Maori of Te Rauparaha's life, written by his son Tamihana Te Rauparaha between 1866 and 1868. A pioneering work of Maori (and, indeed, indigenous) biography, Tamihana's narrative weaves together the oral accounts of his father and other kaumatua to produce an extraordinary account of Te Rauparaha and his rapidly changing world.

Edited and translated by Ross Calman, a descendant of Te Rauparaha, He Pukapuka Tataku i nga Mahi a Te Rauparaha Nui makes available for the first time this major work of Maori literature in a parallel Maori/English edition.

Translated by: Ross Calman