Tuakana Aporotanga (âÂÂ1937) was a New Zealand MÃÂori tohunga of NgÃÂti Rua, a hapà « of Te Whakatà Âhea. As a leader within the Ringatà « church his role as tohunga served as healer and priest.
His mother, MÃÂkawa, was daughter of Te ÃÂporotanga, a leader of NgÃÂti Rua, and his father was Charles Frederick Leggett, an Englishman who settled in à Âpà Âtiki in the 1840s.
As a tohunga healer he lived strictly in accordance with the law of tapu, never letting his body touch hot water, and keeping rooms sacred for prayer and healing separate from activities of daily living, and especially food preparation.
He died in 1937 at à Ârangipakakino, and was buried in an unmarked grave at the NgÃÂti Rua cemetery, Te Rangi-o-matanui.