A work of calligraphy by Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) was given to Taiwan yesterday by its Japanese owners, the Tokyo-based Matsumoto family.
The work, featuring the characters for fraternity (boai, 博愛), was donated to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall by Susumu Kayahara, president of the Japanese Fine Arts News.
At a ceremony in Taipei, Kayahara said the work was given to him by Masao Matsumoto, one of his teachers at Keio University.
The teacher was the son of Johji Matsumoto, who once served as Japan’s commerce and industry minister, he said.
Johji Matsumoto’s father was Soichiro Matsumoto, head of the Manchurian Railway Co, established in the late 19th century in China, he said.
Kayahara said he did not know when Sun had given the calligraphy to Matsumoto, but that he was positive that the piece was authentic and at least 86 years old.
Kayahara said that when his mentor Masao Matsumoto gave him the calligraphy, Matsumoto told him that it was by Sun.
At the time, the piece was not mounted and was a bit worn, Kayahara said.
He said he was encouraged by Chang Ping-huang (張炳煌), a professor at Tamkang University and a renowned calligrapher, to donate the work to the memorial hall.
“I hope that cultural exchanges between Japan and Taiwan will be bolstered further through [the legacy of] Dr Sun Yat-sen,” Kayahara said with a laugh.
Shao Ming-huang (邵銘煌), director of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) history department, said Sun probably gave the calligraphy to the Matsumoto family around 1913, soon after resigning as president and devoting his time to planning China’s industrial development, including the development of railways.
Shao said the calligraphy was given to Soichiro Matsumoto, the grandfather of Masao Matsumoto, a railway builder whose business operations stretched from Japan to Manchuria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Meanwhile, Cheng Nai-wen (鄭乃文), director of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, said experts from his museum had examined the calligraphy and confirmed its authenticity.
Johji Matsumoto was a student of law who studied in Germany, France and Britain and served in different Japanese Cabinets in the 20th century, Cheng said.
Cheng said Kayahara’s donation brought to three the number of samples pieces of Sun’s writing owned by the memorial hall.
The first was a letter written by Sun to his British mentor, James Cantlie. The letter was presented by Cantlie’s grandson 12 years ago to then president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Cheng said.
The second sample was a famous work of calligraphy by Sun, The Whole World is One Community (天下為公). The piece was donated by academic Lu Ching-wu (陸景武) and became part of the museum’s collection in 2001.
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