A group of hikers that visited the Taroko National Park on Tuesday last week said they might have found a rock ledge, known as the “Tengu Rock,” that was depicted on postcards issued by the Hualien port authority during the Japanese colonial era, and had been thought to have been destroyed by a typhoon or earthquake.
Academics said that a collection of postcards were published between 1912 and 1926, including one named “Aborigine on a Cliff” (斷崖上的蕃人), which carried the caption: “The famous Tengu Rock under [the jurisdiction of] the Hualien port authority.”
The Tengu Rock had been frequently mentioned in official records and other literary texts of the time, academics said, adding that the location of the rock ledge as depicted on the postcard had never been found.
Photo courtesy of a climber surnamed Cheng
Rumors have been circulating for some time that the rock ledge was destroyed by natural disasters, academics said.
The group of hikers that found the rock had climbed Haishushan (海鼠山) and was walking along a path on the summit when one of them saw a rock ledge that looked very similar to the Tengu Rock featured on the postcards.
The rediscovery of the rock was welcomed by academics specializing in Hualien’s culture and history.
Academic Yeh Po-chiang (葉柏強) said the rediscovery was “excellent news,” but also called on hikers to have respect for nature and refrain from cutting down nearby trees in an attempt to recreate the exact scene as depicted on the postcards.
The hiking group’s leader, surnamed Cheng (鄭), said that the group did not originally plan to climb Haishushan, and that their finding of the ledge was entirely coincidental.
Cheng said he is worried that once the news spreads, many hikers would attempt to climb the mountain, which could cause unexpected changes to the terrain, such as possible overexposure to wind corrosion if a large number of climbers trample the grass near the rock.
The group announced its discovery as a gesture of acknowledgement to the Truku Aborigines living in the area, in the hope that it would help them preserve other natural formations there, Cheng said.
Prior to Japanese colonization, the area had been a part of the Truku’s hunting grounds, but was later occupied by the Japanese as a military base, Taroko National Park administration office deputy directory Chang Teng-wen (張登文) said.
The base served as a training ground for cavalry units and was connected to a hippodrome-like building, with military barracks at the foot of the mountain, Chang said, adding that most of the buildings have long since been removed.
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