Workers Spend 3 Hours Placing Facemask on Huge Statue in Japan, 56m High

Workers Spend 3 Hours Placing Facemask on Huge Statue in Japan, 56m High

  • A statue of great significance has been given a facemask in Japan as a way to offer prayer against the wave of coronavirus
  • To get the facemask to its face, workers had to do so with the aid of ropes, a task that took them three hours to complete
  • In Japan, the statue is always visited by people who are looking for blessings for their newborns and expectant mothers

PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see Briefly.co.za News on your News Feed!

A giant statue in Japan got a facemask on Tuesday, June 15. To make that happen, a custom mask was made for it

Reuters reports that the act of placing a mask on the white statue of the Buddhist goddess Kannon is a prayer towards the ultimate end of coronavirus.

The statue is 187 feet high.
People wear a facemask on statue, pray for an end to coronavirus. Photo source: LinkedIn/Reuters
Source: UGC

Called the goddess of mercy, the statue at Houkokuji Aizu Betsuin temple in Fukushima was built 33 years ago.

Read also

Park manager afraid as she receives threats after a man was killed by a tiger

Workers spent three hours in an attempt to carry the massive mask up to its face. The statue always has visitors who prayed to it for deliveries and blessings on new children.

We won't remove it until the end of Covid-19

Takaomi Horigane, the temple manager, said the idea of the facemask came up during their rebuilding plan for the statue after it was earlier damaged by an earthquake in February.

He revealed that the mask will remain on the statue’s face until the pandemic has been kept at bay in the country.

Watch the video that captures the moment of the mask-wearing here.

7m African statue unveiled in New York, not everyone's impressed

Meanwhile, Briefly News earlier reported that a huge statue which was unveiled in New York City, United States, was making waves. The black coloured 7m-tall carving situated in Rockefeller Center was sculpted in honour of the African culture.

Read also

Ex-Kaizer Chiefs mentor Gavin Hunt reportedly heading to Zambia, lands coaching job

A video capturing the moment of its unveiling has already garnered over 975k views at the time of the report.

It is said to have been designed by an African American artist, Sanford Biggers. Tweeps bickered over why it should be tagged "in honour of African culture". The statue takes the form of a big-headed personality seated on a throne with a golden torch in one hand.

Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news!

Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Kelly Lippke avatar

Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.