Free Republic

NAGOYA The statue of 16th-century warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi located at the entrance of a shopping arcade in Nagoya has been beheaded, a local association said Tuesday. A local resident notified the shopping center association on Saturday that the statue was missing its head. The neck has since been covered with duct tape to prevent further damage, according to an official of the group. The association, which regards the statue as a symbolic figure of the arcade, is considering filing a damage report with police, the official said. The defacement of the statue, made of reinforced plastic, comes after previous instances...

On this date in 1579, the treacherous execution of a rebellious Japanese lord set events in motion that would shape the nation’s destiny. For two centuries, Japan had been shaken with civil strife in the Sengoku, or “Warring States”, period. Hatano Hideharu, chief of the minor Hatano clan, got himself on the outs with powerful daimyo Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga’s samurai general Akechi Mitsuhide forced Hideharu’s capitulation, convincing him to lay down his arms by offering his own mother as a hostage.* And here’s where the bodies start piling up. Nobunaga overruled Mitsuhide’s promise of safe conduct and had Hatano Hideharu...