Photo/Illutration Tatsuru Uezato, right, greets representatives of the Paiwan people from Mudan, Taiwan, in Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture, on Nov. 7. (Kazuyuki Ito)

MIYAKOJIMA, Okinawa Prefecture--A massacre of dozens of shipwrecked Ryukyu islanders in Taiwan over a century ago was the trigger for a power play that echoes today.

The Mudan incident of 1871, three years after the Meiji government was established to replace the Tokugawa Shogunate, was the pretext Japan used to invade Taiwan. It “acquired” Taiwan after the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95.  

Descendants of the two ethnic groups used as pawns in the brazen move by Japan, still in its infancy as a modern power, met recently as part of continuing efforts at reconciliation.

The 19th century massacre occurred after a boat with 69 Miyakojima officials returning to their island from the Ryukyu kingdom base on the main Okinawa island was blown off course in a storm and wrecked off Mudan.

Members of the Paiwan tribe killed 54 of those on board.

On Nov. 7, community leaders and elders of the Paiwan group, an indigenous tribe in Taiwan, met with local officials at a park here. The 26 Paiwan representatives were from Mudan in Pingtung county, southern Taiwan. They performed a memorial service for the souls of those slain 153 years ago.

In 1874, the Meiji government used the killings as an excuse to dispatch 3,000 troops to Taiwan under the command of Tsugumichi Saigo. The Meiji government said “Japanese” people had to be protected, even though at that time the Ryukyu kingdom was still not considered a part of Japan.

Japanese troops took revenge by slaughtering Paiwan people. Their foray into Taiwan marked the first overseas military expedition by the Meiji government.

In addition to describing the Miyakojima victims as Japanese, the Meiji government also demanded compensation from the Qing government in China.

The Ryukyu kingdom for many years had performed a diplomatic balancing act between the Qing dynasty and Japan.

But after the Qing dynasty paid compensation, the Meiji government took that as recognition by China that the Ryukyu kingdom belonged to Japan. In 1879, Japan toppled the kingdom and established Okinawa Prefecture.

The murder of the Miyakojima officials and the invasion by the Meiji troops, collectively called the Mudan incident in Taiwan, is widely taught in schools there, according to the journalist Kumiko Hirano. But few Japanese today know anything about it.

“Although the incident was the starting point of Japan’s imperialism, it has become forgotten history,” Hirano said.

The catalyst for reconciliation efforts between the peoples of Okinawa and Taiwan was a 2004 meeting in Mudan of scholars from Japan and Taiwan. A scholar from Okinawa apologized for the military expedition to Taiwan. The following year a delegation of Mudan residents came to Miyakojima to apologize to descendants of the victims.

That led to a range of exchanges between local governments and private groups. A stone statue symbolizing love and peace was sent to Miyakojima by residents in Mudan.

Okinawa and Taiwan continue to be caught up in a power confrontation, now between China and the United States.

Tatsuru Uezato, 66, a member of the Miyakojima city assembly who is a great-great-grandchild of one of those killed in Mudan over 150 years ago, met with the Paiwan representatives at the Nov. 7 ceremony.

“While it may be difficult to overcome differences in standing and share a history, a shared desire that we hold is to never again have war,” Uezato said. “There is no end to the efforts toward reconciliation.”

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