Te Toki a Tapiri was built in 1836 by Ngāti Matawhāiti, a hapu of Ngāti Kahungunu, northern Hawkes Bay. The architect of the waka was Te Waaka Tarakau, who named it after Tāpiri, a prominent ancestor of Ngāti Matawhāiti. At 25 metres long, it carried up to 100 people, with the hull cut and dug out from a single totara tree.
The unadorned waka was presented to Te Waaka Perohuka of Ngāti Kaipoho of Rongowhakaata. In return, Perohuka gave Te Waaka Tarakau a famous garment named Karamaene. Te Toki a Tapiri was carved by Rongowhakaata at Te Angaparera on the banks of the Waipaoa River near Manutuke.
Ten years later around 1853 Perohuka presented the waka to Tamati Waka Nene and his brother Patuone of Ngāpuhi, to commemorate a newly found peace in the aftermath of the northern tribe’s musket raids on the East Coast some 25 years before. In return Tamati Waka Nene and Patuone sent Perohuka a piebald stallion named Taika (Tiger), which he then gave to Te Waaka Tarakau.
Te Toki a Tapiri was then brought to Auckland and subsequently sold to Kaihau and Te Katipa of Ngāti Te Ata at Waiuku. In 1863, following the outbreak of war in the Waikato, government forces seized the waka and unsuccessfully attempted to blow it up, even though Ngāti Te Ata had not taken part in the fighting. Ngāti Te Ata later accepted Crown compensation for this wrongdoing by the government.
In 1869 the waka was restored and became the highlight of a regatta on the Waitemata Harbour organised for the visit of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. Paora Tuhaere of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei later looked after the waka until it was presented to Auckland Museum by the New Zealand government in 1885.