2000 - Tales of Two Taniwha

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Araiteuru.                                                               Tuhirangi

These two stamps come from the 2000 Spirits and Guardians issue. You will find the complete set of this issue in our Chinese New Year collection and in our post 2000/2012 The Year of the Dragon.. These two stamps show two famous Taniwha, guardians of the seas around Aotearoa (New Zealand).

40c - The Taniwha Araiteuru.

Kupe and the Coming of Maori to Aotearoa.

Araiteuru - North Island Sea Guardian.

        Te Araiteuru (Araiteuru/Arai-te-uru) is the famed taniwha represented on this stamp. Āraiteuru was a female taniwha, believed to have escorted the Māmari canoe to New Zealand from Hawaiki. In other traditions Āraiteuru and another taniwha named Ruamano guided the Tākitimu canoe.

        She arrived at her new home pregnant, and she gave birth very shortly after her voyage. She had eleven taniwha sons, all of whom turned out to be rather competitive in nature. Her eldest, Waihou, boasted that he could burrow farther than any of the others. Upon hearing his claim, she asked all of her children to go and see the country in which they lived, burrowing as far as they could. Then they were to return and report what they had seen. 

        Each of her sons made a journey, but not all of them returned to tell the tale. However, on the way they dug trenches and valleys – creating the many branches of the Hokianga Harbour and surrounding geography as part of their borrowing quests. Waihou, burrowed far inland and lashed his tail about to form Lake Ōmāpere. Another, Ōhopa, was angered by the large number of rocks he encountered, his body throwing up the mountains and he came to hate all living things. He terrorised the people near the Panguru Mountains.

        Today, Araiteuru (Āraiteuru) lives in a cave to the south of Hokianga Harbour mouth, where any passer-by can see the heavy surf breaking across the bar. She is the guardian taniwha of the region, companioned with another taniwha named Niua / Niwa / Hiwa, who lives to the north of the harbour.  Locals make sure not to bother or anger Araiteuru (Āraiteuru), for she has been known to raise storms or even wreck traveling water vessels on the bar over her cavern in response to provocation.

$1.80 - The Taniwha Tuhirangi.

Kupe and the Coming of Maori to Aotearoa.



Tuhirangi - South Island Sea Guardian.

          The taniwha Tuhirangi accompanied the legendary explorer Kupe on his voyage of discovery to New Zealand. It was reputed that Kupe placed Tuhirangi in Te Moana-o-Raukawa (Cook Strait) as a guardian. Tuhirangi guided and protected canoes, and was later believed to have reappeared in the form of a well-known dolphin named Pelorus Jack, which accompanied ships in this stretch of water.

The Story of Pelorus Jack.

       Pelorus Jack was a dolphin that often guided ships to and from French Pass, which separates D’Urville Island from the South Island. The dolphin acted as a guide from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Many Māori believed that he was the taniwha named Tuhirangi, in a dolphin form.

        Pelorus Jack was first seen around 1888 when it appeared in front of the schooner Brindle when the ship approached French Pass, a channel located between D'Urville Island and the South Island. When the members of the crew saw the dolphin bobbing up and down in front of the ship, they wanted to kill him – but, fortunately, the captain’s wife was able to talk them out of it.

        To their amazement, the dolphin then proceeded to guide the ship through the narrow channel. And for years thereafter, he safely guided almost every ship that came by. The area is dangerous to ships with rocks and strong currents but no shipwrecks occurred when Jack was present.

         In 1904, someone aboard the SS Penguin tried to shoot Pelorus Jack with a rifle. Despite the attempt at his life, Pelorus Jack continued to help ships. According to folklore, however, Pelorus Jack no longer helped the Penguin, which shipwrecked in Cook Strait in 1909.

        Jack was last seen in April 1912. There were various rumours connected to his disappearance, including fears that foreign whalers might have harpooned him. However, research suggests that Pelorus Jack was an old animal; his head was white and his body pale, both indications of age, so it is likely that he died of natural causes.

Interislander Ferry Service Logo.

Since 1989, Pelorus Jack has been used as a symbol for the Interislander, a ferry service across the Cook Strait, and is incorporated into the livery of the ships in the fleet.

Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ

You can visit their web site and On-line Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/