Wushe incident

The Wushe incident or Musha incident (Japanese: and Chinese: 霧社事件, Hepburn: Musha Jiken, pinyin: Wùshè Shìjiàn; Wade–Giles: Wu⁴-she⁴ Shih⁴-chien⁴; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bū-siā Sū-kiāⁿ), also known as the Wushe Rebellion and several other similar names, began in October 1930 and was the last major uprising against colonial Japanese forces in Taiwan. In response to long-term oppression by Japanese authorities, the Seediq indigenous group in Wushe (Musha) attacked the village, killing over 130 Japanese. In response, the Japanese led a relentless counter-attack, killing over 600 Seediq in retaliation. The handling of the incident by the Japanese authorities was strongly criticised, leading to many changes in aboriginal policy.

Background

Armed resistance to Japanese imperial authority had been dealt with harshly, as evident in the responses to previous uprisings such as the Tapani Incident; this resulted in a cycle of rebel attacks and strict Japanese retaliation. However, by the 1930s, armed resistance had largely been replaced by organised political and social movements among the younger Taiwanese generation. Direct police involvement in local administration had been relaxed, many harsh punishments were abolished, and some elements of self-government, albeit of questionable effectiveness, had been introduced to colonial Taiwan.

However, a different approach was used in order to control Taiwan's indigenous peoples. Taiwanese aborigines were still designated as "seiban" (生蛮 or 生蕃, "raw barbarians" or "wild tribespeople"), and treated as savages rather than equal subjects. Tribes were 'tamed' through assimilation, the process of disarming traditional hunting tribes and forcing them to relocate to the plains and lead an agrarian existence. Further resistance was then dealt with by military campaigns, isolation and containment. In order to access natural resources in mountainous and forested indigenous-controlled areas, Governor-General Sakuma Samata adopted a more aggressive terrain policy, attempting to pacify or eradicate aboriginal groups in areas scheduled for logging within five years; by 1915, this policy had been largely successful, although resistance still existed in more remote areas.

Proximal causes

The Seediq aborigines in the vicinity of Wushe had been considered by Japanese authorities to be one of the most successful examples of this "taming" approach, with Chief Mouna Rudao being one of 43 indigenous leaders selected for a tour of Japan a few years earlier. However, resentment still lingered, due largely to police misconduct, the continuing practice of forced labor, and the ill treatment of indigenous beliefs and customs.

In the days immediately prior to the incident, chief Mouna Rudao held a traditional wedding banquet for his son Daho Mona, during which animals were slaughtered and wine was prepared and drunk. A Japanese police officer named Katsuhiko Yoshimura was on patrol in the area, and was offered a cup of wine by Daho Mouna as a symbolic gesture. The officer refused, saying that Daho Mouna's hands were soiled with blood from the slaughtered animals. Daho Mouna attempted to take hold of the officer, insisting he participate, and the officer struck him with his stick. Fighting ensued, and the officer was injured. Chief Mouna Rudao attempted to apologize by presenting a flagon of wine at the officer's house, but was rejected. The simmering resentment among the Seediq in Wushe was finally pushed to the limit.

Incident

File:Commander and Staff of Musha Punitive force.JPG

Commander and staff of the Musha Punitive force.

File:Mikata-Ban2.JPG

Mikata-Ban, a force of pro-Japanese aborigines.

Beheaded Seediq

On October 27, 1930, hundreds of Japanese converged on Wushe for an athletics meet at the Taiwan-Chinese Musyaji Elementary School. Shortly before dawn, Mouna Rudao led over 300 Seediq warriors in a raid of strategic police sub-stations to capture weapons and ammunition. They then moved on the elementary school, concentrating their attack on the Japanese in attendance. A total of 134 Japanese, including women and children, were killed in the attack. Two Han Taiwanese dressed in Japanese clothing were also mistakenly killed, one of whom was a girl wearing a Japanese kimono. The Aboriginals aimed to only kill Japanese specifically.

Consequences

The Japanese authorities responded with unprecedentedly harsh military action. A press blackout was enforced, and Governor General Eizo Ishizuka ordered a counter-offensive of two thousand troops to be sent to Wushe, forcing the Seediq to retreat into the mountains and carry out guerrilla attacks by night. Unable to root out the Seediq despite their superior numbers and firepower, the Japanese faced a political need for a faster solution. Consequently, Japan's army air corps in Taiwan ordered bombing runs over Wushe to smoke out the rebels, dropping mustard gas bombs in what was allegedly the first such use of chemical warfare in Asia. The uprising was swiftly quelled, with any remaining resistance suppressed by the third week of December 1930; Mouna Rudao had committed suicide on November 28, but the uprising had continued under other leaders. Of the 1,200 Seediq directly involved in the uprising, 644 died, 290 of which committed suicide to avoid dishonor.

Due to internal and external criticism of their handling of the incident, Governor-General Kamiyama and Goto Fumio, his chief civil administrator, were forced to resign in January 1931. However, Kamiyama's replacement, Ota Masahiro, also took a harsh approach to controlling Taiwan's indigenous peoples: certain tribes were disarmed and left unprotected, giving their aboriginal enemies an opportunity to annihilate them on behalf of the Japanese administration. Around 500 of the Seediq involved in the Wushe Incident surrendered and were subsequently confined to a village near Wushe. However, on April 25, 1931, indigenous groups working with the Japanese authorities attacked the village, beheading all remaining males over the age of 15. This came to be known as the "Second Wushe Incident", and Ota was recalled in March 1932.

However, the uprising did affect a change in the authorities' attitudes and approaches towards aborigines in Taiwan. Wushe had been regarded as the most "enlightened and compliant" of the aboriginal territories, and the colonial power's inability to prevent the massacre provoked a fear of similar nationalist movements starting in Taiwan, Korea, and Japan itself. A change in policy was clearly needed. Ching suggests that the ideology of imperialisation (kominka) became the dominant form of colonial control; aborigines became represented as imperial subjects on equal footing with other ethnic groups in Taiwan, and were upgraded in status from "raw savages" to takasagozoku (高砂族, "tribal peoples of Taiwan"). Furthermore, Japanese education was intensified, tying Taiwanese civility to Japanese culture and loyalty to the emperor in the younger generation. In this way, the Japanese authorities were able to play the Taiwanese-Chinese and indigenous peoples against each other to encourage competing in loyalty to the colonial forces. During World War II, some fought for the Imperial Japan and wore their identity to battle zone.

After the Japanese surrendered to the Allied forces at the end of World War II, and Taiwan was handed over to the Chinese, the Chinese Nationalist Government gradually sought liberal redress and reconciliation policies for all the indigenous peoples, including their land claims and cultural protection.

Seediq people were made up of three groups: the Tkdaya (德克塔雅群), Toda (都達群), and Truku (太魯閣群).

During the Wushe Incident Seediq Tkdaya under Mona Rudao revolted against the Japanese while the Truku and Toda did not. The rivalry between the Seediq Tkdaya vs the Toda and Truku (Taroko) was aggravated by Wushe Incident, since the Japanese had long played them off against each other and the Japanese used Toda and Truku (Taroko) collaborators to massacre the Tkdaya. Tkdaya land was given to the Truku (Taroko) and Toda by the Japanese after the incident. The Truku had resisted and fought the Japanese before in the 1914 Truku war 太魯閣戰爭 but had since been pacified and collaborated with the Japanese in the 1930 Wushe against the Tkdaya.

The Truku people demanded a separate status for themselves in a "name rectification" campaign. The Atayal and Seediq slammed the Truku for their name rectification. Aboriginals have criticized politicians for abusing the "indigenization" movement for political gains, such as aboriginal opposition to the DPP's "rectification" by recognizing the Taroko for political reasons, with the majority of mountain townships voting for Ma Ying-jeou.

In 2005 the Kuomintang displayed a massive photo of Mona Rudao at its headquarters in honor of the 60th anniversary of Taiwan's retrocession from Japan to the Republic of China.

Japanese nationalist right-wingers continue to deny that the Japanese used poison gas at Wushe.

In the media

The Wushe Incident has been depicted three times in movies, in 1957 in the film 青山碧血 Qing Shan bi xue, in the 2003 TV drama Dana Sakura w:zh:風中緋櫻, and in the 2011 Taiwanese film Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale.

See also

• History of Taiwan
• Taiwan under Japanese rule