The wooden statue of St. Mary: ‘St. Mary of Hara Castle’

St. Mary of Hara Castle

The wooden statue over 10 meters high which sculptor Eiji Oyamatsu has been carving for about 40 years to console and remember all those who died in Shimabara and Amakusa during the Shimabara- Amakusa rebellion in 1637-38 . This statue is seen as a national treasure-class work, being one of the largest wood carvings in the world and is extremely valuable from an artistic point of view. One might even say it is a world treasure. The sculptor decided to make a statue of St. Mary for the memorial service at the occation of Pope John Paul II’s first visit to Japan in 1981. Starting with a small prototype, he then proceeded to build the current large version constructed by giant camphor trees. The statue is to be completed soon, and was named “St. Mary of Hara Castle” by him. It is the wish of the sculptor that the statue will console the souls of the many who died at the Shimabara rebellion and will also inspire the future development of Minamishimabara city.

Sculptor Eiji Oyamatsu

Born in Sado City, Niigata Prefecture (formerly Ryotsu City) in 1934. Lives in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
He studied under Takashi Shimizu and Choshu Hashimoto and completed the Graduate School of Sculpture, Musashino Art University in 1961. He received a special prize at the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition in 1978 and 1983. In 1981, he created a first wooden sculpture of St. Mary and dedicated it to Pope John Paul II. In 1990, 1997 and 2004, he served as a judge for Japan Fine Arts Exhibition. At the 43rd Japan Fine Arts Exhibition in 2011, he received the highest award, the Prime Minister’s Award, for “Shunrai (Spring Thunder)”.

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Image gallery, the wooden statue of  St. Mary

A statue of St. Mary presented to the Pope.
Words from the Pope congratulating Mr. Oyamatsu on his actions.
The height of the first statue is 60 cm (prototype). After that, it became 2m40cm and 6m,
and “St. Mary of Hara Castle” became about 10m tall.
A statue of St. Mary created by Mr. Oyamatsu in Katase Church.
The production site of the statue. Located in the premises of a monastery, it used to be a farm equipment warehouse.
The protruding part on the 3rd floor is handmade by Mr. Oyamatsu, and the face of the statue of Mary is contained in this part.
The Statue of St. Mary in the atelier.
In the room next to the atelier where the statue of St. Mary is produced, other works are lined up.
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Production scenery

Starting to carve a stack of camphor trees.
“Azekura-zukuri technique” devised by Mr. Oyamatsu
One day, when he was thinking about how to make the 10 meters statue of St. Mary, in what seemed a dream like state, he came up with the idea of “Azekura-zukuri”, which is made by cutting large camphor trees into round slices and interlocking them on top of each other. It is an ancient Japanese building technique.
Below the chest of the statue of St. Mary is hollow. The doorway behind the statue.
Nail-like marks written in ink are for confirming the position of reinforcements during finishing of the work and when stacking.

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