Petroglyph, Pu'uLoa, Hawaii, Photo Joe Belef, 2007.
On
2/1/13, referring to a photograph taken by Joe Belef used in my posting GAME
BOARDS, CONTINUED, on 12/29/12,
Anonymous sent the following comment: “The 8 hole pattern around a central hole looks exactly like a game board
for Mu Torere.This game was played by the Maori people of New Zealand.The Maori
were Polynesians as were the original Hawaiians.The conclusion is
inescapable;this is a board for the same game.”
That promising information required some checking out so I
have been looking into this. I think that Anonymous
may well be right. With two different, but related cultures (they both have
Polynesian origins) as well as the possibility of prehistoric contact through
long-distance sailing voyages, it seems eminently reasonable for us to assume
this possibility.
“MuTorere is one of
two games that are known to have been played before they were absorbed into the
British Empire (Wikipedia), and it is played on a board with a central hole,
called the petahi, and eight or more holes around it called, kewai.” (www.gamesoftheworld.com).
Mu Torere board diagram.
httpwww.boardgamesoftheworld.commutorere.html
And from http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BesGame-t1-body-d5-d1-d2.html
we are told “this game, known as torere and mu torere, is one of the most
interesting items we have to discuss, on account of its resemblance to our game
of draughts, and the existence of a doubt as to whether or not it was a pre-European
diversion. The board or diagram used is utterly different in form to that
employed by us, there is no crowning of kings, and old natives have stated
that, so far as they knew, it was an old Maori game.
Mohi Turei, a well informed and very old man of the Ngati-Porou tribe
informs us (1912) that mu torere was the old name for the game, and, in
this connection, he quotes an old saying:—"E mu torere mai ana ranei ko utou ki au, e hoa ma !" used
in the sense of—"Are you striving against me, or, are you looking for
trouble?" Tuta Nihoniho, of the same tribe, stated that the European game
of draughts was introduced into that district in the time of his grandfather,
probably by sailors, or early traders, or missionaries. In the far off Hawaiian
Isles, a game resembling draughts was played, and known by two names, mu and konane.”
According to available references mu torere boards could be painted or carved on wood as we can see from the illustration that shows the game being played , or just scratched out in the sand. This photgraph also illustrated a board with eight peripheral holes (the kewai), and one central hole (the petahi), exactly the same layout as the Hawaiian petroglyph. This is really exciting to me. Through discussion about our
shared interest we have added a small, but real, item of knowledge to the
encyclopedia of rock art. Thank you Anonymous!
REFERENCES:
Wikipedia
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