Master carver hopes to gift taonga to All Blacks as they defend Rugby World Cup title

James Rickard has carved seven tewhatewha for the All Blacks team.

One of New Zealand’s most renowned tohunga whakairo (master carver) is hoping his taonga made for the All Blacks will find its way to the team during the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

James Rickard has been creating Māori carvings for over 50 years and is in Japan as part of Tourism New Zealand’s promotion of New Zealand to Japan.

With New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, Mr Rickard was a part of a project which carved kuwaha as a gift for Japan for hosting the Rugby World Cup.

“Part of my job was to come and demonstrate carving at the ‘activations’ run by Tourism New Zealand,” he told 1 NEWS.

While touring the country and showing off his specialised skills, Mr Rickard has been working on another project, one he’s hoping he can gift to the All Blacks.

“So, I decided to make tewhatewha. Tewhatewha was a weapon carried in the early days by fighting chiefs.

“It also denotes the first battle between the god of war and the god of the elements.”

The puhoro design on the tewhatewha is representative of speed, he says.

The special gift hasn’t caught the attention of the All Blacks yet, but Mr Rickard is hoping they will accept his gift before the end of the tournament.

“As long as they know that it’s here it’s easy to send it to them.”

He’s also hoping the team will take his idea of gifting the taonga to opposing teams after each game.

“I thought it would be nice to start a project where we hand something else to the opposing team.”

Mr Rickard will spend another couple of weeks touring Japan, meanwhile the gift waits for the All Blacks to accept.

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