In Ngāi Tūhoe stories concerning Uenuku's ascension to godhood, he betrays the trust of his supernatural wife, Hinepūkohurangi, and wanders the earth searching for her until he dies and transforms into a personification of the rainbow. The tribe claims descent from the union of Hinepūkohurangi and Te Maunga. The story is also known to Ngāpuhi, and to the Ngāti Kahungunu of Wairoa who claim descent from the union, where Hinepūkohurangi is known instead as Tairi-a-kohu. The tribes of the "Kurahaupō" canoe in Marlborough also regard him as an ancestor.