A cluster of statues of Japan’s Three Great Unifiers of the Warring States Period stands at the entrance of Entsū-ji Shopping Street in Nishi Ward, Nagoya, Japan. In August this year, the statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi among them was shockingly decapitated. After a four-month painstaking investigation, Japanese police uncovered that one of the suspects was a fellow policeman — an officer from Ehime Prefectural Police who was on a business trip to Nagoya, with another male also implicated in the case.
According to Japan’s NHK News, the statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, made of reinforced plastic, was intentionally damaged in late August, with its head severed and lying on the ground. Police reviewed surveillance footage and found that a male police officer from Ehime Prefecture, who was on an official business trip to Aichi Prefecture at the time, was suspected of acting recklessly under the influence of alcohol. On the night of August 19, he grabbed the statue’s head and twisted it forcefully, causing the neck of the statue to snap.
In addition, another man residing in Nagoya City is suspected of kicking the severed head of the Toyotomi Hideyoshi statue in the early hours of August 23, exacerbating the damage. Police are continuing their investigation and plan to refer both suspects to the public prosecutor’s office on suspicion of intentional damage to property.
Reports further stated that the three statues were donated to the street by local businessman Kazuhiro Tokita in 2013, yet they have had a tragic fate marred by repeated vandalism. Besides the decapitation of the Toyotomi Hideyoshi statue, the statue of Oda Nobunaga had one arm torn off six years ago, and the statue of Tokugawa Ieyasu was also pushed over and damaged three years ago.
