A descendant of one of the 54 sailors killed by Taiwanese Aborigines in a massacre 140 years ago made peace on Wednesday with the offspring of one of the perpetrators, ahead of an upcoming international forum that seeks to discover the truth about the incident.
In 1871, a ship with 69 crew departing from the Miyako Islands in the Ryukyu Kingdom — an independent kingdom from the 15th century until its annexation by Japan in 1879 — was shipwrecked by a typhoon on its way back to Miyako after paying tribute to Naha, the present-day capital of Okinawa.
Three sailors drowned at sea and 66 landed on the shores of southern Taiwan, where only 12 were able to escape being killed by the local Paiwan Aborigines.
The incident led to a punitive expedition by Japan in 1874, known locally as the Mudan Incident. This incident exposed the tenuous grip that the Qing Dynasty had over Taiwan, ultimately planting the seeds for future Japanese aggression against Taiwan during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and 1895, which resulted in the ceding of Taiwan to Japan.
The killing of the sailors and Japan’s strong response also weakened the Qing Dynasty’s claim of sovereignty over the Ryukyu -Islands and legitimized Japan’s sovereignty over the area.
The 1871 incident is important because it changed the course of history for the country, said Yang Meng-che (楊孟哲), a professor and convener of tomorrow’s forum that will bring together Taiwanese, Japanese and South Korean academics to discuss the incident.
The forum is being held to fully discover the truth about the incident, taking into account both the Japanese and the Paiwan perspective, Yang said, adding that most of the information available about the incident is from the Japanese perspective.
“This gathering helped me -resolve some of my questions,” Koei Nohara, a fifth--generation descendant of one of the sailors, said at a press conference in Taipei to promote the forum.
Nohara said he had learned about the incident from his father and grandfather and had tried to imagine their feelings on his way to Taiwan. He said he was both surprised and glad to see so many people gathering in Taipei to discuss the incident.
Valjeluk M.V.L., a descendant of the tribal chief of the Paiwan village where the sailors were killed, said his family has told him that the killings were a result of a misunderstanding.
The villagers had treated the sailors as guests, but the sailors violated tribal customs by running away from the village without first notifying the villagers, which made them enemies, he said.
The sailors probably fled out of fear after seeing Paiwan men with their hunting weapons, he said, but he nevertheless condemned the killings and thanked Nahara for his understanding.
Lilies signifying peace were presented to Nohara by Aboriginal children, as well as to Valjeluk M.V.L. and Yang Shi-wei, an offspring of Yang Yu-wang (楊友旺), one of the two ethnically Han Taiwanese men who helped a dozen sailors escape and return home. The three held hands to signify reconciliation.
The group is scheduled to visit Checheng Township (車城), Pingtung County today, where a ritual to console the souls of the dead is to be held at the graves of the sailors.
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