A statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, erected on a street in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, was found beheaded. Toyotomi was a figure who invaded Korea and instigated the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 after unifying the Warring States period in Japan.
According to Japanese NHK Broadcasting and others on the 27th, the head of the Toyotomi statue, which was in front of the entrance of a shopping complex in Nagoya's Nishi Ward, was found damaged on the 25th.
The statue is about waist-high for an adult and is made of reinforced plastic. At the time, the statue was in a decapitated state, and the head was reportedly found nearby. Currently, the statue's neck is said to be covered with tape.
The management of the shopping complex that oversees the statue stated that they are considering reporting to the police as there is a possibility that someone intentionally damaged it.
In this intersection in front of the shopping complex, alongside Toyotomi, there are statues of three figures who contributed to the unification during the Warring States period: Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and others. However, it is reported that the other statues were not damaged.
Kazuhira Tokita (64), a businessman who donated the Toyotomi statue 12 years ago, told NHK that "it is a pride of Aichi Prefecture for the three heroes to be gathered in one place," adding, "It is hard to repair and quite shocking." Currently, the severed head of the Toyotomi statue is kept by the shopping complex management.
This is not the first time the statue has been damaged. In 2019, the left arm of the Oda statue was torn off, and in 2022, the Tokugawa statue was found toppled over with a hole in its back, media reported.