Statue of KUSUNOKI Masashige

　At the corner of the National Garden Plaza area, woodland of Japanese Black Pine trees, you can find a bronze statue of a samurai warrior, KUSUNOKI Masashige (“Nan-ko” is his diminutive), who has been famous for his loyalty to the Imperial House to this day, and is keeping his eyes front in the direction of Nijubashi Bridge. This statue is made in the gallant figure of him, to receive Mikado Godaigo-tenno and to help the Mikado sweep into power, on June 1333 on the road in present Hyogo Prefecture, after the Mikado slipped out of Oki-no-shima Island where the Kamakura Shogunate exiled him. 　
　This statue was dedicated by the House of Sumitomo, celebrating bi-centennial of Besshi Copper Mine. In 1891 the House of Sumitomo asked then Tokyo Fine Arts　School (present Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music) to execute the project. Executers are Koun Takada, Kisai Yamada, and Sessei Okazaki. They spent for 10 years to complete with copper from the Mine.