Io Matua Kore is often understood as the supreme being in Polynesian native religion, particularly of the Māori people.
Io-matua-kore | |
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Creator of creators; Parentless one; Supreme being | |
Other names |
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Gender | Male[1] |
Region | Polynesia |
Io does seem to be present in the mythologies of other Polynesian islands including Hawai‘i, the Society Islands, and the Cook Islands.[1] He, or somebody else with his name, appears as a great-grandson of Tiki, and a father of another Io-rangi in Moriori mythology.[2]: 106, 669
Io was first known generally with the publication in 1913 of Hoani Te Whatahoro Jury's book,[citation needed] translated by Percy Smith as The Lore of the Whāre-wananga.[3] The idea that the Io represented a pre-Christian understanding of "God" much like the Christian God would be propagated by Elsdon Best in his Maori Religion and Mythology.[4]
The Io tradition was initially rejected by scholars including prominent Māori scholar Te Rangi Hīroa (Peter Buck), who wrote, "The discovery of a supreme God named Io in New Zealand was a surprise to Māori and Pākehā alike."[5] Buck believed that the Io tradition was restricted to the Ngāti Kahungunu as a response to Christianity. Jonathan Z. Smith questions the motives behind the existence of such a book,[clarification needed] seeing this as a questionable emphasis of the idea around the Io.[6] Others such as James Cox argues that this "pre-Christian" understanding of a supreme god may in fact be due to the earlier Mormon missionary activities.[7]