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Origin of Kowhaiwhai

Māori art is unique to Aotearoa, New Zealand. Most recently Māori art has made its mark internationally through tattoo designs and carving. While traditional and contemporary Māori artists have been paving the way for Māori arts around the world, little is said about one of the most widely used elements such as kowhaiwhai a particularly ancient painted art form of the Māori.

Māori mythology suggests that the origin of the first kowhaiwhai patterns can be traced back to the separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku sky father and earth mother. It was at the time of the great separation when the war god Tū Matauenga cut the sinews that bound Ranginui and Papatūānuku together in a tight embrace causing the blood or sacred red ochre to flow onto the land.

Ruaumoko the god of earthquakes displeased at the separation of his parents in his despair and rage caused the earth to rumble and crack open, sending volcanic ash and lava flowing from the earth. The patterns grooves and crevices that formed upon the earth is said to be the origin of tā moko.

It was the sacred red ochre that was used to paint the faces and sometimes the entire body of a person to render him or her tapu; sacred. The first patterns and designs gave rise to the painted moko which over a period of time was replaced by the chiselled moko which was more permanent and could not be washed off.