By Pokere Paewai for RNZ A kūwaha has been blessed and has found a permanent home at the New Zealand Embassy in Tokyo - and the timing couldn’t have been better for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Te Haeata Whero, carved in 2019, is a magnificent kūwaha (ceremonial doorway) representing the red dawn. It was created by the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute and journeyed from Rotorua to Tokyo, Japan - as part of the build-up to the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Institute general manager Eraia Kiel said the embassy will make a fitting home for Te Haeata Whero. The doorway and Te Kōpū Whānui, a mauri stone gifted by Ngāti Hikairo of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, were part of a whakatō mauri (blessing) conducted by Kiel and Lenny Boonen, one of the original carvers. The kūwaha will be “a doorway to creating relationships” and connections with the people of Japan, something Kiel hoped would endure long into the future.
“The narrative was about the connection between our maunga, te kāhui maunga and also Mt Fujiyama, [and] I guess that subterranean connection from the Pacific ring of fire; some things we share in common from our geothermal connection.” Having cultural pieces like Te Haeata Whero gave New Zealanders around the world something tangible to remind them of home, he said. The timing of the renewal just happened to coincide perfectly with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s visit to Japan, Kiel said.
Luxon had the chance to see the kūwaha alongs.
