Japan
Japan has no long tradition of erecting equestrian statues. The earliest one dates from 1897. In total I was able to trace some 35 examples. The only concentration of equestrian statues is in Tokyo, where there are five. The other statues can be found all over the country. Most of them at the bottom of castles and, quite remarkably, on the squares in front of train stations. I do not know how to explain this. However, given the high reliability and frequency of the Japanese rail system, this made it easy to find them by using the train! Finding the other statues in the countryside by car was much more difficult, as the satellite navigation system in Japan is based on finding an address by using the telephone number. Unfortunately equestrian statues do not have a telephone
Japan has a long history with an imperial family that emerged around 700 and up to 1868 had high prestige, but – with a few exceptions – little power. No equestrian statues of emperors exist. This may also explain why there is no equestrian statue in the beautiful city of Kyoto, the capital of Japan for more than 1,000 years.
Towards the end of the twelfth century, conflicts between three powerful military clans turned into civil war, the Genpei War, with the Minamoto clan emerging as the clear winner. The result of this war was a feudal system that would exist for more than six centuries. The real power in Japan during this era lay with the shogun (the de facto national ruler), the territorial lords, and the Daimyos and their warriors: the Samurai. Most of the equestrian statues in Japan portray them.
Under the rule of the shoguns, Japan maintained a policy of isolation. This came to an end in the mid-nineteenth century, when Japan was forced to open up trade with the West. The shogunate was overthrown and the emperor restored to power, the start of a period of fierce nationalism. The oldest equestrian statues date from that period, and often portray generals, who were in a number of cases also princes of the imperial house.