Mudan incident

Mudan Incident
Location	Formosa
Date	1871
Attack type	massacre
Deaths	54
Victim	Ryukyuan merchant ship
Perpetrators	Formosans

Mudan Incident of 1871 was the massacre of fifty-four Ryukyu people in Taiwan who wandered into the central part of Taiwan after their ship was shipwrecked. 12 men were rescued by Han Chinese and were transferred to Miyako. After the Taiwan Expedition of 1874, the Japanese sovereignty of Ryukyu was confirmed.

Shipwreck

On October 18, 1871, four ships which had carried the Nintouzei tax poll tax to Ryukyuan Kingdom started from Naha for their homeland. They met a violent typhoon and one ship disappeared, one ship sailed safely, and two ships were shipwrecked; one reached the eastern tip of Taiwan on November 6. Another ship reached the western part of Taiwan and this one was safe.

Wandering and crossing Taiwan

• 66 people landed on November 6, at the eastern tip of Taiwan called 高雄州恒春郡満州庄九柵 (八遥湾） but 3 persons who landed in a hurry died during landing. They began extraordinary hard traveling for safety. According to two survivors, they reached Mudan community on November 8 and were ordered to stay there; there 66 men and women had some doubts and on November 9, started to escape; there started massacre. 12 survivors were rescued by local people and stayed there for 40 plus several days, in the house of Yoh Yuu Oh (Japanese Pronunciation); they returned via Tainan City and Fuzhou(福州）, China, and they came back to Miyako. The distance of their wandering was roughly 100 km in a straight line. The place of the murder was known as 双渓谷 and is now the place of training of Taiwanese army, navy and air force.

Yoh Yuu Oh (Japanese Pronunciation);楊友旺

• 12 survivors stayed at his home for 40 plus several days and they recovered with sufficient food. Yoh paid a considerable amount of money to calm down the aborigines. Originally they got angry for not being given 2 barrels of alcoholic drinks. The son of Yoh brought the 12 survivors to safety. They stayed at the Ryukyuan House at Fuzhou, China for half a year and the survivors reached Naha on June 7, 1872 together with the men on another ship, which reached Taiwan on their way to Yaeyama. Yoh and other people made a tomb and have continued memorial ceremonies.
• On the top page of the book by Miyakuni was a photograph of Yoh Yuu Oh(Japanese pronunciation).

Diplomatic conflicts and Taiwan Expedition of 1874

• The Japanese Government demanded that the Chinese government punish leaders of the Taiwanese aborigines but their response was that they were not under the control of the Chinese Government and the Japanese Government decided on sending the Japanese army Taiwan Expedition of 1874.

Main article: Taiwan Expedition of 1874

Tomb and afterwards

The Japanese expedition army made a tomb and collected skulls, 44 skulls; 10 skulls could not be recovered. The skulls were buried first in Naha and then re-buried at Gokokuji temple in the same city. In 1980, the tomb was made again anew, and related people attended the ceremony from Miyako Island. In 1997 Fumio Miyakuni visited the related places and wrote a book. In 2005, Taiwanese people visited Miyako Island for an apology and they and Miyako people shaked hands of peace.

Episodes

• The attitude of Miyako people to Taiwan is good; in the last war, many Miyako people evacuated Miyako to Taiwan. The leader of the tragic group Gen-an Nakasone was partly responsible for the tragedy; he was a greatly fat man, which delayed the speed of their movement.

See also

• Rover incident

References

• 宮古島民台湾遭難事件(1998) 宮国文雄 那覇出版社 那覇　ISBN4-89095-097-4 C0020 Y1810E
• The Miyako Islanders Met Massacre (1998) Fumio Miyaguni, Naha Shuppansha, Naha.ISBN4-89095-097-4 C0020 Y1810E