5,000 elementary school children in Tokyo died in the Great Kanto Earthquake on September 1, 1923.
To mourn their deaths and pray for their souls, school principals and many others from all over Tokyo planned to build this Statue of Spirit and solicited donations.
From these donations, sculptor, Uichiro Ogura was commissioned to create the statue and the unveiling ceremony was held on May 16, 1931.
In 1944, the statue part was removed in a collection of metals, but it was rebuilt at the request of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 1961 by Shohei Tsugami and Arikazu Yamahata, who were the leading pupils of Uichiro Ogura, replicating the former statue.


The following words are engraved on the back of the pedestal.
About 5,000 children from our elementary schools in Tokyo died on September 1, 1923, in a large earthquake and the horrific scenes were indescribable.
School principals and may others, feeling compassion and mourning the deaths, gathered and devised a plan so that the children who were fortunate enough to survive, and were able to carry on with their lives, could mourn these lost souls.
When they published this plan on the 5^th anniversary, 182,027 children were immediately sympathetic and donations reached 14,066 Yen and 47 Sen. 
Uichiro Ogura was promptly commissioned to create a statue that was build next to the Memorial Hall, and it was donated to the Tokyo Memorial Service Association together with maintenance fees to ensure people would remember for a long time and pray for the lost souls. 

September 1, 1930