A statue of a former Taipei Hospital head and former dean of the Taipei Medical University is on its way back to Taiwan, exciting a bidding war among museums wanting to own a piece of art that holds special significance to the nation.
Cast by Taiwanese artist Huang Tu-shui (黃土水), the Tomoe Takagi statue is being sold back to Taiwan by the widow of Takagi’s grandson.
After Ichitaro Sakatera’s death in March at the age of 93, his widow has been contemplating a move to a smaller house, literary academic and historian Lin Ping-yen (林炳炎) said.
Photo provided by Lin Ping-yen
Lin added that Sakatera wished to sell the work to Taiwanese collectors so that it would be given the care it deserved.
Lin said that Takagi, a graduate from the former Imperial University in Tokyo, had exceptional training in the field of public sanitation and had served in Taiwan under Shinpei Goto at the Taipei Hospital and also as the second-term dean of the Taipei Medical University, which would become National Taiwan University.
Takagi had also been in charge of disease prevention across all of Taiwan, Lin said, adding that since retiring in 1919, he had been the first to head Taiwan Power Co, which the Japanese had been subsidizing with 40 percent funding.
The company had been commissioned to build the hydroelectric facility by Sun Moon Lake, but Takagi had been unable to finish the task within his 10-year term as head of the company.
He had instead managed to monopolize electricity across the nation by negotiating mergers with other civilian companies, most notably the former Taiwan Electricity Company.
Then-head of the Taiwan Electricity Co Hayanosuke Nagata had commissioned Huang to cast the statue in 1929 as a memento for Takagi when he left Taiwan. Huang passed away only a year later at the age of 35 in Tokyo.
Lin said that while the NTU has a Tagaki statue made by Japanese artist Shikai Kitamura, this had only been possible due to private investment from school alumni in 1917.
The statue had been nearly vetoed because Tagaki did not want it made, but students had persuaded him by saying that if he refused, the statue of Hidetaka Yamaguchi, the founder of the medical school would not be completed, Lin said.
Lin said that Huang’s statue was better than Kitamura’s, adding that he had been shocked at first sight.
“It was as if Tagaki had appeared before me alive,” he said, adding that the statue was one of the few larger pieces that Huang had made that was still preserved.
Whether from an artistic perspective or an historical angle, the statue is extremely valuable, Lin said.
Sources said that both the Chi Mei Museum and the Taipei Museum of Fine Arts have made enquiries about the statue.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said that NTU alumni should pool funds to purchase the valuable relic and return it to the university.
She added that the nation should also make the statue a national relic.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
RSS