Statue of Kusunoki Masashige

In front of you, on a granite pedestal, rides Kusunoki Masashige, a warrior who died almost six centuries before this statue was cast. His presence here, facing the palace, says a great deal about the Japan that commissioned it.

1The loyal samurai

In the 14th century Masashige fought on the side of Emperor Go-Daigo, who was trying to win back power from the warrior class. In 1336 he died at the Battle of Minatogawa, near present-day Kobe, in a fight he knew was already lost. For centuries he was a hero of literature; in the Meiji era, when the emperor once again became the centre of the state, he was turned into the official model of loyalty to the throne.

2Copper from a mine

The statue was a gift from the Besshi copper mine, run by the Sumitomo family, to celebrate its two hundredth anniversary, and it was put up here in 1900. It was made by the Tokyo School of Fine Arts: Takamura Kōun directed the figure of the warrior, while Gotō Sadayuki, a specialist in horses, modelled the animal. The same two artists were behind the famous statue of Saigō Takamori in Ueno.

The scene shows Masashige at the moment he welcomes Emperor Go-Daigo back from exile, in 1333.

It is one of Tokyo's three great bronze statues, and perhaps the most ideologically charged. Today, however, most of the people who walk past simply admire the metalwork.

3What to look for

• The tension in the horse, with its neck arched and one leg in the air.
• The horned helmet and the details of the armour.
• The black pines on the plaza, planted in the Meiji era.