Research team visits Japanese era ‘killing cave’

RELOCATED: The bones of guerrillas fighting the Japanese were dug up by CPC Corp when it was looking for oil and buried nearby, a local resident said

By Huang Shu-li and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer





A research team studying the history of Yunlin County’s Gukeng Township (古坑) has discovered artifacts from the Japanese colonial era and a location where Japanese soldiers were said to have executed anti-regime guerrillas.

The township office said that last year it commissioned a team from National Taiwan Normal University’s Graduate Institute of Taiwan History to undertake a field study.

The team, led by professor Chang Su-bing (張素玢), said it found two plaques — the writing on which was blurred, but the words “Produced by the Taiwan Provincial Governor’s Office” were still visible — which were for people licensed to cut down camphor laurels to be processed into camphor.

A cliff inscribed with Japanese soldiers’ names is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: courtesy of Chang Su-fen

Under the Japanese colonial government, the logging of camphor laurels was strictly regulated. The plaques were distributed by the Taiwan Provincial Governor’s Office.

People in the Shihbi (石壁) area of Caoling Township (草嶺) said that the majority of the population in the area used to make a living from logging camphor laurels.

During an interview with Shihbi resident Chen Ching-li (陳景立), the team learned that there was a place in the nearby mountains where guerrillas were taken by Japanese soldiers to be executed.

Chen told the research team the place was known locally as “the killing cave” and that the names of two Japanese men were carved outside the cave, adding that it was sealed shut after CPC Corp, Taiwan, visited the area prospecting for oil 40 years ago.

The majority of village residents do not know about this aspect of the area’s history, Chen said, adding that the bones of the deceased that had been dug up by CPC Corp were buried next to a nearby temple.

When visiting the site, the research team said it found the rock bearing the names, just as Chen said, behind a tea plantation.

The teams surmised that the names were the leaders of Japanese forces putting down the guerillas and their names were carved in stone to take credit for the kills.

The team said they would have to conduct more research to ascertain whether one of the names carved on the rock was the same person who was documented as taking part in the later Changhu Battle, or if they were related.