Tū

Tū is the Society-Islands reflex of the Polynesian war-and-craft god (Maori Tūmatauenga, Hawaiian Kū). In Henry's cosmogony he is the great artificer who works beside Ta'aroa in fashioning the world; Ellis lists him among the four great gods as the old god of war. On Tahiti his war-cult was in time overshadowed by that of 'Oro. Authored as a son/handiwork of Ta'aroa and brother of Tāne, Ro'o and 'Oro.

Parentage

• Ta'aroa

Domains

• war
• craftsmen and artisans

Powers

• Work as the great artificer in the making of the world
• Grant prowess and victory in war

Relations

• child: Ta'aroa
• sibling: Tāne
• sibling: Ro'o
• sibling: 'Oro

Sources

• William Ellis, Polynesian Researches (1829), the four great gods (Ta'aroa, Tāne, Tū, Ro'o)
• Teuira Henry, Ancient Tahiti (Bishop Museum Bulletin 48, 1928)