A Kannon statue was removed from a public tourism facility in the prefectural village of Shingu on Wednesday in line with a court ruling that the presence of the Buddhist image infringes upon the constitutional separation of state and religion.
The stone Buddhist statue, which is 6 meters tall and weighs 25 tons, was moved to a plot of privately owned land about 100 meters from the facility at an estimated cost to the village of 6 million yen.
In April, the Matsuyama District Court ordered top village officials to return the public funds that were used to build the statue and place it in the facility.
Mayor Nobuichi Hokkyo and the next-of-kin of the former mayor have already returned 18.35 million yen to the village.
On Wednesday, about 10 workers destroyed the base of the statue with drills and slowly moved the structure via crane onto a truck for transport to the new plot.