It is said that he was the descendant of Pou-te-aniwaniwa (possibly Pou-te-anuanua of Rarotonga), and the son of Rongo-mai (personified form of meteors and meteorites) and Hine-te-wai. Using the bodies of his mother, father, Paoka-o-te-rangi, Totoe-rangi, Tahaina, Kaurukiruki, and Hereumu, he built a bridge from Hawaiki to New Zealand for himself and his wife Rongoiamo to cross the Pacific Ocean. With this bridge, they are the origin of the kūmara in New Zealand. Supposedly, these entities represented the colours of a rainbow bridge.