Te Rangi-tua-mātotoru

Te Rangi-tua-mātotoru was an 18th-century Māori rangatira and tohunga of the Ngāti Te Rangiita hapū and ariki (paramount chieftain) of the Ngāti Tūwharetoa iwi of the region around Lake Taupō, New Zealand. He built three great wharenui (meeting houses) for different sections of Ngāti Tūwharetoa. When the Tūwharetoa chieftain Tutakaroa attacked Te Rangi-tua-mātotoru’s allies in Ngāti Tahu, he summoned allies from Te Arawa to attack Tutakaroa at Whakaohokau, but had second thoughts about the venture and arranged a peace before Te Arawa could wreak havoc. He sent a force to help Te Uamairangi from the Ngāti Te Upokoiri hapū of Ngāti Kahungunu escape to Whakatane after he was defeated in a bid for control of Ngāti Kahungunu. In his old age, he negotiated the peace which ended the Tūhoe-Ngāti Tūwharetoa War. After his death, he was eventually succeeded by Herea Te Heuheu Tukino I.

He played an important role in Ngāti Tūwharetoa as the model for subsequent paramount chiefs. Te Heuheu II called him “the man who understood good and evil” or “had the power of life and death.” John Te Herekiekie Grace reports that “during the occupation of Taupo by Ngati Tuwharetoa no other chief equalled him in mana or prestige.” A Waitangi Tribunal report of 2013 judges that he "set the high standard of leadership that would be associated with the role of paramount chief."