[rizu]

**Looks like someone got to the post while I was typing haha.**

the statue is of hirano kuniomi and the statue is located in fukuoka in nishi park.

the inscription says: hirano jirou kuniomi zou according to my boyfriend. he said that the jirou is part of his name. so the inscription translates basically to "a statue of hirano jirou kuniomi"

but as far as sculptors and stuff, i have no idea. my kanji capabilities are limited. haha.

i found that hirano played a roll in the meiji restoration. :-) hope that helps. sorry i couldn't find out more >.<