Sakamoto Ryoma Statue, Kochi.

This is a 13.5m-tall statue, which sits on high ground looking down over Katsura Beach.

“Sakamoto Ryōma (3 January 1836 – 10 December 1867) was a Japanese samurai, a shishi [a group of Japanese political activists of the late Edo period] and influential figure of the Bakumatsu [the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended], and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period.

“Sakamoto was a low-ranking samurai from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active opponent of the Tokugawa Shogunate after the end of Japan’s sakoku isolationist policy. Under the alias Saitani Umetarō, he worked against the Bakufu, the government of the Tokugawa shogunate, and was often hunted by their supporters and the Shinsengumi [‘Newly Selected Corps’ – a small secret police organisation]. Sakamoto advocated for democracy, Japanese nationalism, return of power to the Imperial Court, abolition of feudalism, and moderate modernisation and industrialisation of Japan. Sakamoto successfully negotiated the Satchō Alliance between the powerful rival Chōshū and Satsuma domains and united them against the Bakufu. Sakamoto was assassinated in December 1867 with his companion Nakaoka Shintarō, shortly before the Boshin War and the Meiji Restoration.”