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Hōne Te Kāuru Taiapa (10 August 1912 – 10 May 1979), also known as John Taiapa, was a Māori master wood carver and carpenter of Ngāti Porou. He was the younger brother of master Māori carver Pine Taiapa. The two brothers worked closely with politician Sir Āpirana Ngata on reintroducing the Māori arts & crafts to the country after World War II. Both men, for example, demonstrated Māori carving skills by carving and restoring lost or damaged traditional marae all along the North Island of New Zealand alongside fellow carvers or students they had been training as part of a programme by the New Zealand Department of Education to educate teachers to reintroduce Māori arts and crafts to school children. New Zealand poet Hone Tuwhare included a poem about the wood carver, "On a theme by Hone Taiapa," in his 1973 collection Something Nothing.

Early life
Taiapa was born at Tikitiki on the East Coast in 1912, one of 14 children of Tāmati Taiapa and Maraea Te Iritawa. In the early 1930s he went to assist his brother Pine, who was a student of carving at a school of Māori arts and crafts that had been established at Ohinemutu in Rotorua in 1927. The brothers studied under Rotohiko Haupapa, an Arawa carver. Haupapa died in 1932 and Eramiha Kapua took over teaching at the school. Kapua told his students not to bother with tapu observances around carving, in case they got it wrong. The first building Hone worked on was Te Hono ki Rarotonga at Tokomaru Bay, in 1934. Between 1934 and 1937 Hone worked on buildings at Otaki, Waitara, Ruatoria and on the Assembly Hall at Te Aute College, as well as assisting with the meeting house at Waitangi. By the time the Waitangi meeting house was completed in 1937, Hone "considered himself a full trained carver". The Rotorua school of arts and crafts closed during World War 2 then reopened with Taiapa as an instructor and later head of the school.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZPG19300604.2.8    https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZPG19290206.2.12.2.54  jai

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TAH195301.2.15 Hukarere

One example of Taiapa's method of instruction was the process for creating a poupou or wall panel: Taiapa would pencil a design onto a slab of wood then carve one side of the design. The pupil would carve the other side of the piece of wood, copying Taiapa's work, and then the pupil would design and carve the second half of the slab, thus building up their confidence.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TAH195909.2.20.2  pag 34 and 48

THE CARVER, HIS PUPILS AND THE PUBLIC John Taiapa regards the educating of pupils as an essential part of his calling. He likes to see the art of carving flourish and is prepared to give much of his time and energy in the passing on of his knowledge. In the first stages of instruction he designs the slabs in pencil, carves one side himself, and then leaves the pupil to do the other half, imitating what has already been completed. The next stage is to leave the student also to design the second half of the slab. He tries to make sure that the pupils get confidence in themselves and are not frightened to work independently as their training progresses.

To-day [1959], the Rotorua School of Arts and Crafts is closed. Flourishing during the thirties, it was closed during the war and then reopened with John Taiapa as instructor. The last house carved at the school was Tapeka, the house recently opened at Waihi.

Taiapa led the team of carvers that carved most of the pieces for Arohanui ki te Tangata in Lower Hutt, which was opened in September 1960.

In the 1960 Queen's Birthday Honours, Taiapa was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for cultural services to the Māori people, especially in the field of wood carving.

He was the head and one of the founders of the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute (NZMACI) Wood Carving School at Whakarewarewa, Rotorua when it opened in 1967. He then trained and guided the next generation of master carvers to take his place; he died in 1979. Notable disciples of Taiapa are Rangi Hetet, Clive Fugill and James Rickard, all now widely considered as 'Tohunga Whakairo' or master carvers.