arapaki
1. (noun) ornamental lattice-work, used particularly between carvings around the walls of meeting houses. These panels consist of vertical stakes (traditionally made of kākaho), horizontal rods (traditionally made of stalks of bracken-fern or thin strips of tōtara wood), and flexible material of flax, kiekie and pīngao, which form the pattern. Each of the traditional patterns has a name.
Ko Tākitimu te whare pai ngā waihanga, engari nō taku kitenga i a Porourangi heoi anō kua ngaro ōku mahara ki a Takitimu, kua riro katoa kua whaiāipo ki a Porourangi; i te tamatāne o te āhua, o te tū o te whare; i te rite, i te ātanga, o ngā whakairo, o ngā pou, o ngā pakitara, o te tungaroa, me te whatitoka, me te roro, me te matapihi, me ngā arapaki, kāore he rite i i kitea e ahau i te motu katoa nei, hāunga hoki ngā tuhituhi o ngā heke me te tāhū. (TP 1/7/1902:6). / Tākitimu was built beautifully, but when I saw Porourangi my thoughts about Tākitimu were forgotten and I fell in love with Porourangi; the youthful masculinity of the house's appearance and structure; the architecture and beauty of the carvings, posts, walls, the back wall and the door, verandah, window and the ornamental lattice-work, and not to mention the paintings of the rafters and the ridgepole.
