Fenggang Traversing

Daren Township Office
影像為達仁鄉公所入口意象

Daren Township was originally Fan area of Taitung County during the Japanese rule and was placed under the administrative control of ​​Dawuzhuang. After the war, the Nationalist government established the Taitung County Government, made the former-ruled Fan area a mountainous administrative control area, and established Sandi Township. This township was divided from the Dawu Township administrative area in 1946 and named "Daren Township".  The township office was first set up in Tuban village. Due to inconvenient transportation, it was moved to Fuxing Road, Anshuo village in 1958. The indigenous groups in the township include Paiwan, Rukai, Pinuyumayan, Amis, and so on, accounting for more than 90% of the township's population. The township has six villages under its jurisdiction: Anshuo and Nantian are close to the sea, while Morinaga, Xinhua, Tuban, and Taiban are located in the higher inland mountainous areas.

Tribal Kitchen of Senyong Hamlet
影像為森永村的部落廚房,提供餐點給弱勢的兒童和老人

The residents of this hamlet were originally residents of old Dagu (Tjarilik) and neighboring Gutanas and Enivaian hamlets. They moved here in 1953 due to the inconvenience of living in a steep mountainous area. The tribesmen of old Dagu hamlet chose to live on the land where Morinaga Hoshinaen Co. Ltd. specialized in planting quinine, coffee, and tea during the Japanese occupation. Later, this hamlet was named Senyong (Morinaga) after the farm. Tjarilik, the name of the old tribe of the Paiwan people, means steep mountains, while Gutanas means the tribe on the cliff, and Enivaianmeans a place with big and sacred trees.

Senyong Presbyterian Church
影像為森永基督長老教會,設立於1957年12月

The residents of this hamlet were originally residents of old Dagu (Tjarilik) and neighboring Gutanas and Enivaian hamlets. They moved here in 1953 due to the inconvenience of living in a steep mountainous area. The tribesmen of old Dagu hamlet chose to live on the land where Morinaga Hoshinaen Co. Ltd. specialized in planting quinine, coffee, and tea during the Japanese occupation. Later, this hamlet was named Senyong (Morinaga) after the farm. Tjarilik, the name of the old tribe of the Paiwan people, means steep mountains, while Gutanas means the tribe on the cliff, and Enivaianmeans a place with big and sacred trees.

Shimen Historic Battlefield
原為西鄉都督遺跡碑,戰後題字改為澄清海宇還我河山

The Shimen Historic Battlefield is located at the junction of Checheng Township and Mudan Township in Pingtung County, in the hilly and mountainous areas of the Sichong River and its tributaries. Since the Mudan incident, the Japanese have been calling the place Shimen. In the post-war period, the village and township was named after it. 

As a fact, the former Monument of Commander Saigo Judo and the Monument of the Loyal Soul (in memory of the Japanese soldiers who were killed in the battle between indigenous peoples) were built to commemorate the Mudan Incident. In the post-war period, the monuments were deemed a humiliation to the country, and thus the words on the monument were replaced to commend the anti-Japanese spirit of the indigenous peoples.

 

Anshuo Hamlet
位在南迴公路旁的安朔村

Anshuo Hamlet is located next to Nanhui Road in Daren Township, Taitung County. In the post-war period, the Nationalist Government asphalt-paved what was originally a gravel road of the Fenggang Beinan Historic Trail, covering a total length of 107 km from Taitung to Shouqia.

Xinlu Hamlet
新路部落街景

Xinlu Hamlet in Shizi Township, Pingtung County, is located by Nanhui Road on the south bank of Fenggang River, about 3.5 km away from Fenggang. It was originally the traditional territory of Jiaxinlushe, but during the Japanese occupation period, the Governor-General in Taiwan vigorously implemented the group relocation project and forcefully relocated indigenes of Bashimoshe (Lomaq) to the area of Konkya. They were then moved to the current location of the Xinlu hamlet in 1943. At the beginning of the post-war period, the National Government also moved the residents of Karoran hamlet and Chachagun hamlet here, thus forming the current Xinlu hamlet.

Fenggang River
在古道開通前,山區居民交易皆溯行溪床至楓港

Fenggang Beinan Historic Trail was excavated under the policy of excavating mountains to manage indigene during the Qing period. Before then, it was a tribal passage for the local Paiwan tribe. The excavation mainly went along the river from Fenggang towards the northeast, not overlapping with Nanhui Road. The trail goes along the tribal passage, into Mount Qiluzhike, along the ridgeline to Shouqia, and finally reaching Dawu from Rumulu River. Therefore, before the opening of the Fenggang Beinan Hsitoric Trail, residents living in the mountainous areas would go upstream the Fenggang River to trade hunted animal products at the riverbed.

 

Danlu Hamlet
丹路部落街景

Danlu Hamlet is located on the steep slope on the left bank of Fenggang River, on the north-western mountainside of Nurenshan in Shizi Township, Pingtung County. The hamlet was formed by the migration of indigenous peoples  in 1924, who originally lived in Mudanlushe and Jiaxinlushe. During the Japanese occupation period, the Governor-General in Taiwan set up  the Mudanlu Police Post next to the present Danlu Elementary School in Upper Danlu Hamlet. In 1943 the tribesmen of the Bashimoshe moved to Lower Danlu Hamlet and became a part of the Mudanlushe. In the post-war period, the National Government referred to Mudan Road as Dan Road in short, and the police post was also moved to the Nanhui Highway, between the upper and lower hamlets.

 

Shuangliu Hamlet
雙流部落和南迴公路

Shuangliu Hamlet is located on the south bank of the confluence of Neiwen River and Daren River in the upper reaches of Fenggang River in Shizi Township, Pingtung County. It was an important fort on the Fenggang Beinan Historic Trail during the Qing period. The hamlet was formed by the migration of Paiwan people from Jinagalan hamlet in the post-war period.

Beside the Shuangliu Hamlet is the Shuangliu National Forest Recreation Area, which was taken over by the Forestry Bureau in 1965. The main feature of the recreation area is the artificial Taiwan Chinese Ash forest and the rich insect ecology. Follow the upstream of Neiwen River in the park, you can play in the water, watch butterflies, as well as visit the relics of Paiwan slate houses and Shuangliu Waterfall.

Tomb of 54 Japanese Ryukyuan Sailors
位在屏東縣車城鄉的大日本琉球藩民五十四名墓碑

The Tomb of 54 Ryukyuan is located in the alleys off Tongpu Road in Checheng Township, Pingtung County. It mainly serves as a place to remember the death of 54 Ryukyuan fishermen, who were killed by indigenous Paiwan tribe of Gaoshifoshe when they drifted to Bayao Bay due to a storm in 1871.

When the incident happened, the then Japanese Commander Saigo Judo sent troops to attack Taiwan on the grounds of killing the Ryukyuans. The tombstone was originally located at Shuangxikou in Shimen. Later, with the help from local residents Lin Ah-Jiu, Yang You-Wang and Zhang Mei-Po, Commander  Saigo Judo moved the tomb to the current location and erected a tombstone. Later, Lin Ah-Jiu was commissioned to convene the villagers to worship the tomb twice a year in spring and autumn.

Today, the three Japanese characters that read “Empire of Japan'' on the front of the tombstone have been smeared, and the inscription on the back is weathered and blurred, making it difficult to identify.