MOAI RESTORATION PROJECT

Japanese Moai

A Moai statue stands on Megi Island, 4km to the west of Takamatsu city of Kagawa Prefecture , looking over the Inland Sea. Megi Island is famous for the folktale "MOMOTARO", of a young hero defeating ogres. Strange as it may sound, the Moai is not real, but a replica.
The fact is that, after TADANO having made this replica for the experiment of rebuilding the real Moai statues, they donated the replica to Takamatsu City. Then it was built on the island by the City on 23 Oct.1996.

The replica is made of pale brown stone, 3.9m in height, 1.8m in width, 1.3m in depth, 10.8t in weight. Kazuhiro YAMADA, a local sculptor, who lives in Aji town of Kagawa Prefecture, made it at the request of TADANO, on the basis of a drawing measured by TADANO at Easter Island, because TADANO was an initiator of promoting "The Moai Restoration Project" organized by archeologists of Japan, the Republic of Chile, and the United States.

The following photograph shows the ceremony "Ogre Festival of Seto", performed on 3 Nov. 1996. At that time, Jaime Lagos, Chilean Ambassador ** in Japan, celebrated the completion of setting up the statue. On the occasion, he gave an address to the guests saying "The Moai Statues are one of the Seven Wonders of the world, even now veiled in mystery. I hope this Moai statue will be helpful to the children in filling up their imagination." This was a moving event, brought about as a result of the restoration of Moai statues.