Mount Taupiri is a sacred mountain and burial place for the Tainui

Tainui

Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato...

 Māori People based in the Waikato

Waikato

The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...

 in the town of Taupiri.
Taupiri is a small township on State Highway 1 and the Waikato River

Waikato River

The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand. In the North Island, it runs for 425 kilometres from the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and emptying into Lake Taupo, New Zealand's largest lake. It drains Taupo at the lake's northeastern edge, creates the...

 north of the town of Ngaruawahia

Ngaruawahia

Ngāruawāhia is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 20 km north-west of Hamilton at the confluence of the Waikato and Waipa Rivers...

 and south of Huntly

Huntly, New Zealand

Huntly is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is on State Highway 1, 93 kilometres south of Auckland and 35 kilometres north of Hamilton. It is situated on the North Island Main Trunk Railway and straddles the Waikato River.Huntly was called Rahui Pokeka when...

 in the Waikato Region. The Mount Taupiri burial place is to the north of the township and directly above the highway and 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.

Famous people buried there

• Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu
  Te Atairangikaahu
  Dame Te Atairangikaahu, ONZ, DBE, OStJ was the Māori queen for 40 years, the longest reign of any Māori monarch. Her full name and title was Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu...
  
  , Māori Queen, 23 July 1931 - 15 August 2006
• Whatumoana Paki
  Whatumoana Paki
  Whatumoana Paki was a New Zealand Maori royal elder. Paki was the husband of the late Maori Queen, Te Atairangikaahu, who reigned from 1966 to 2006. He and Te Atairangikaahu were the parents of the present Maori King, Tuheitia Paki....
  
  , elder and husband of Te Atairangikaahu, ? - 22 September 2011
• Billy T James, Comedian
  Comedian
  A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
  
  , 1948 - 7 August 1991
• Te Rata
  Te Rata
  Te Rata Mahuta was born sometime between 1877 and 1880 and was the eldest son of the third Māori King, Mahuta and Te Marae, daughter of the fighting Chief Amukete Te Kerei who was killed in battle at Rangiriri in November 1863. He married Te Uranga of Ngati Koroki...
  
  , Māori King, 1909 - 18 May 1966
• King Tāwhiao
  Tawhiao
  Tāwhiao I, Māori King , was leader of the Waikato tribes, the second Māori King and a religious visionary. He was a member of the Ngāti Mahuta iwi of Waikato....
  
  , Māori King, May 1822 - 26 August 1894