A statue of Japanese hydraulic engineer Nobuhei Torii, which stands beside an irrigation waterway in Pingtung County’s Chunrih Township (春日), was unveiled at a ceremony yesterday, with his grandson, Toru Torii, in attendance.
In the 1920s, Nobuhei Torii built the Er-feng Waterway, which irrigates about 3,000 hectares of farmland, in the county’s Laiyi Township (來義).
Chi Mei Corp founder Hsu Wen-long (許文龍) commissioned five statutes in Nobuhei Torii’s memory, one of which he gave to Chunrih Mayor Ko Chih-chiang (柯自強) about six months ago.
Photo: Chen Yen-ting, Taipei Times
The township’s plan to install the 290cm-tall statue was affected by the vandalism of Japanese engineer Yoichi Hatta’s statue in Tainan, Ko said, referring to an incident in April in which the statue of Hatta, who is called the “father of the Chianan irrigation system” for his contributions to irrigation in the Chianan Plain in the south by building the Wushantou Reservoir, was decapitated.
The Er-feng Waterway had been registered as a national cultural landscape, but the designer of another waterway beside the Lili Brook in Chunrih remains unknown, said Ting Che-shih (丁澈士), dean of College of Engineering at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology.
Nonetheless, Ting said he believes Nobuhei Torii was the designer of both waterways, given their similar designs and time of construction.
Military confidentiality might be the reason behind the designer’s anonymity, he added.
The township’s water source was highly prized during World War II, when a Japanese army command headquarters with about 20,000 soldiers was stationed there, he said.
At yesterday’s ceremony, nine mayors of the county’s aboriginal townships, including Chunrih, signed an agreement vowing to protect the water source.
The statue and agreement are meant to highlight the efforts of ancient people in building the waterways, Ko said, adding that an explanation placard for the statue would be installed soon.
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