- CountryJapan
- Town:Tokyo
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Year of creation:1897
- Rider(s):Kusunoki Masasige
(1294–1336) was a fourteenth-century samurai who fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in his attempt to wrest the rule of Japan away from the Kamakura shogunate. He is remembered as the ideal of samurai loyalty. In what would later be viewed as the ultimate act of obedience, he accepted a foolish command from his emperor, left his death poem with his young son Masatsura and knowingly marched his army to certain death.
- Sculptor(s):Koun, Takamura
(1852 –1934) was a Japanese sculptor who exerted himself for the modernization of wood carving and a professor of Tokyo School of Fine Arts.
Born in Tokyo as Nakajima Kōzō, he created the bronze statue of Saigō Takamori, completed in 1898, which stands in Ueno Park in Tokyo. He is also the author of the statue of Kusunoki Masahige which stands in front of the Tokyo Imperial Palace.
His statue stands near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. It is not only the oldest equestrian statue in Japan, but also one of the best.
