Mount Taupiri is a hill at the southern end of the Taupiri Range in the Waikato. The highest peak in the range, it rises to 288 metres above sea level and overlooks Taupiri township immediately to its south. It is separated from the Hakarimata Range to the south by the Taupiri Gorge, through which the Waikato River flows from the Waikato Basin to the Lower Waikato. The Mangawara Stream joins the Waikato River at the base of the hill.
Mount Taupiri is a sacred mountain and burial ground for the Waikato tribe of the MÃÂori people. Until sometime in the 19th century a large MÃÂori village or town, Kaitotehe, stood on the flat land on the other side of the river, below the Hakarimata Range. In early years it was the home of PÃÂoa, brother of Mahuta, before PÃÂoa moved to Hauraki. It became the headquarters of the NgÃÂti Mahuta people. Brothers Whare and Tapuae, grandsons of Mahuta and the leaders of NgÃÂti Mahuta, lived there. After the two brothers were killed, Tapuae's son Te Putu built Taupiri pÃÂ on the summit of a spur of Taupiri mountain, in the 1600s. When Te Putu was an old man in the 1700s, he was treacherously killed by NgÃÂtokowaru of NgÃÂti Raukawa at Te Mata-o-tutonga, his home outside the pÃÂ by the banks of the Waikato River. He was buried at the pÃÂ, which thus became tapu (sacred) and was abandoned. Early European travellers in the area were obliged by MÃÂori to cross to the other side of the Waikato River to avoid the sacred area.
In the early 19th century Kaitotehe was the home of PÃ Âtatau Te Wherowhero, the paramount chief of NgÃÂti Mahuta who became the first MÃÂori King. English explorer and artist George French Angas visited Kaitotehe in 1844 and painted a scene depicting a hui (meeting) taking place in the village. Taupiri mountain is seen in the background on the other side of the Waikato River (which is not visible below the far palisade). The lower peak on the far right shows signs of the terraces of Te Putu's abandoned pÃÂ. To its left, in about the middle of the painting, is a still-lower bush-clad hill, which was the burial ground in Te Putu's time and below which his home of Te Mata-o-tutonga stood.
The present-day burial ground is directly above State Highway 1 and the North Island Main Trunk railway line on a steep slope. Parking and access is difficult, because the road and railway lie largely on land at the foot of the slope that has been reclaimed from the river. Access is being improved by a bridge from the township over the Mangawara Stream, open in May 2020. The deceased MÃÂori kings and queen are buried in the highest part of the cemetery, on the summit where Te Putu's pÃÂ stood.