Gwagyeong Ilboneo Munhak Yeongu (Jun 2015)
Representation of Prince Kitashirakawa in the Mass Media of Colonial Taiwan during the 1910s
Abstract
Prince Kitashirakawa, uncle of the Meiji Emperor, died during the pacification of Taiwan in 1895, when Taiwan became the first colony of Japan. Afterward, he became a spiritual icon for Japanese colonial rulers in Taiwan. At first glance, it is unsurprising that the Prince’s sacrifice for Japan’s new colony earned him recognition as a national hero. However, biographies and related materials about the Prince of Kitashirakawa, both in modern and colonial Taiwan, indicate that he had been involved in political struggles between the Satsuma and Choushu regimes and the late Tokugawa regime’s imperial court, and had been supported by feudal lords in the northeast during the Boshin War. Since the Meiji Restoration, accounts of the victors have dominated the interpretation of Japanese history. As such, the true account of the Prince’s defeat was disguised after the Meiji period until the pre-war period. Through examining the materials of the Prince in colonial Taiwan, the “defeated” episode of his saga was found to be related to the High Treason Incident and the issue of the legitimacy of Japan's emperor. The historical views of the Prince's defeat in colonial Taiwan may indicate another perspective of Japan and its imperial system in the post-war era. This paper will examine the discourse on the Prince of Kitashirakawa in colonial Taiwan to expose how colonial Taiwan, on the periphery of the Japanese Empire, challenged the core of Japan through questioning the legitimacy of Japan's emperor.
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