What is "muturangi"

Muturangi, also known as Ruamuturangi, was the son of Ohomairangi and a renowned High Priest presiding over Taputapuatea marae at Rangiatea.

Muturangi was an accomplished navigator and it was he who started the tradition of The High Priest at Taputapuatea. He was responsible for collecting and recording knowledge of deepsea voyaging across Te Moananui a Kiwa (Pacific Ocean)

Muturangi supposedly had as a familiar or kaitiaki (guardian spirit), a giant octopus known as Te Wheke-a-Muturangi (the Octopus of Muturangi), the same octopus which others were said to have followed to reach Aotearoa New Zealand.

Another theory for the Te Wheke-a-Muturangi states that the name actually refers to the many navigation paths centered on Rangiatea with the tentacles reaching out across the pacific.