Kotore was a MÃÂori rangatira (chieftain) of the NgÃÂti Kahungunu iwi in the Wairoa area of Hawke Bay of New Zealand. He is said to have been the first to give his iwi the name NgÃÂti Kahungunu.
Kotore was the son of Makoro and Hine-te-ata. Through his father, he was a descendant of Ruapani and Kahungunu, and thence from Pawa and Kiwa who captained the Horouta waka and Tamatea Arikinui, who captained the Takitimu. Kotore made his base at Omaruhakeke on the Wairoa River.
Kotore offered his daughter Hinepehinga in marriage to his distant cousin Te WhatuiÃÂpiti, the dominant chieftain in the Heretaunga region, as a peace offering, but she avoided sleeping with him because she was in love with another man, so he abandoned the marriage without ill will and returned to Heretaunga without her.
Omaruhakeke was attacked by Apanui, the founder of Te WhÃÂnau-ÃÂ-Apanui. Kotore was defeated and mortally wounded. Shortly before he was killed he was brought into the presence of Apanui and said in dismay, ("My friend, you're an ugly man, for me to end up in your stomach!"). When Apanui asked who was better looking than him, Kotore pointed to his two sons, who had been captured and were about to be executed and said ("Over there - be like the great eyebrows of Kahungunu which are being led towards us"). NgàTukemata-nui o Kahungunu (the eyebrows of Kahungunu) became the name for Kotore's descendants, who had previously been known as NgÃÂti Tokirima a Hinemanuhiri. The name was later shortened to NgÃÂti Kahungunu and applied also to other descendants of Kahungunu. The death of Kotore and his sons was finally avenged by his great-grandson Te-O-Tane at the Battle of Whawhapà Â.
Kotore married Moe-roto and Hine-manuhiri, who were both daughters of Tà «-waikura and Te Pupuinuku. They were cousins of Kotore, because Te Pupuinuku was the daughter of Kotore's uncle Tama-te-rangi. He had two sons and one daughter: