A statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, erected at the entrance of a shopping arcade in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, was found with its head severed.
According to Japanese media outlets NHK and Kyodo News on the 27th, the statue of Hideyoshi installed in front of a shopping arcade in Nishi Ward, Nagoya, was discovered damaged on the 25th. The statue, made of reinforced plastic and about waist-high for an adult, was found with its neck cut and the head lying nearby. Currently, the neck area has been wrapped with tape to prevent further damage.
The shopping arcade association that manages the statue believes it is highly likely that someone intentionally vandalized it and is considering whether to report the damage to the police. A representative of the association stated, "It is regrettable that a symbolic figure of the shopping district has been damaged," adding, "Repairing it will require significant cost and effort, which is quite troubling."
The statue in question was donated in 2013 by local businessman Kazuhiro Tokita, age 64, and is part of a group of figures representing the "Three Great Warlords of Japan"-Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. All three are natives of Aichi Prefecture and are regarded in Japan as historical figures who ended the Sengoku period and contributed to the unification of the country.
However, these statues have frequently suffered acts of vandalism in the past. In 2019, the left arm of the Oda Nobunaga statue was torn off, and in 2022, the Tokugawa Ieyasu statue was toppled, resulting in a hole in its back.
Meanwhile, although Hideyoshi is considered a war hero who unified Japan within the country, he is remembered in Korea as a symbol of invasion, having launched the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592, during which countless Koreans were massacred and the land was devastated.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
