Mortal-floor (4 generations from goddess Whaitiri; divine-line annotation preserved) son of Wahieroa; the canonical canoe-builder-avenger of the pan-Polynesian Rata cycle. Born after his father's killing by Matuku-takotako; raised by his mother. Built a great war-canoe (waka) with the help of the Hakuturi forest-spirits after initially failing to observe the proper tikanga of tree-felling — the canonical-Maori instructive-tikanga narrative encoded in mythological-pedagogical form (foundational for the proper-tikanga-of-tree-felling teaching-tradition that still informs contemporary Maori forestry). Voyaged to Matuku-takotako's land; recovered his father's bones from the ogre's priests after learning the Titikura incantation by overhearing them; killed Matuku-takotako at the ogre's pool. Per Cole-Jensen 1961 and Fornander 1878 pp. 190-191, Rata occupies the canonical-shared genealogical position in both Maori and Hawaiian recensions — the last canonical-shared ancestor of the pan-Polynesian heroic genealogy before the dispersal-voyages that settled the various Polynesian-island groups. Cross-Polynesian recensions: Rātā (Maori), Laka (Hawaiian per Fornander 1878), Lata (Tongan, Samoan), Rata-i-te-vananga (Tahitian).