Samurai, scholar and Buddhist Kusunoki Masashige, Edo Castle, Tokyo

Kusunoki Masashige (1294 – July 4, 1336) was a 14th-century samurai who fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in the Genk? War, the attempt to wrest rulership of Japan away from the Kamakura shogunate and is remembered as the ideal of samurai loyalty.
His origin has not been validated and it was merely six years between the start of his military campaign in 1331 and his demise in 1336. He received the highest decoration from the Meiji government of Japan in 1880. "Legend has it that Emperor Go-Daigo had a dream in which he was sheltering under a camphor tree ("kusunoki"), and that this dream led him to the surname of the warrior who would support him."
Kusunoki "was a well-to-do member of the rural gentry" in the Kawachi Province. He claimed descent from Tachibana Moroye, "a great nobleman of the eighth century." Kusunoki was a "scholar and a devout Buddhist"
The Statue of Kusunoki Masashige built at Imperial Palace Plaza in Tokyo. The authors of the artwork are Koun Takamura (1852 - 1934) for mainly head part, Kisai Yamada (1864 - 1901) and Koumei Ishikawa (1852 - 1913) for body part and Sadayuki Goto (1850 - 1903) for horse part.
Text: www.wikipedia.org