Inoue Inosuke (井上 伊之助), 1882 - 1966, was a true Taiwanese hero.
Inoue was from Kochi prefecture of Shikoku island, Japan. In 1906, when Inoue was in his second year at a Christian missionary school called the Holiness College, his father working in Hualian as a technician for a camphor factory operated by the Kata group was killed by Truku Aboriginal workers during a labor dispute.
A total of 32 Japanese were killed in that violent event, including a Japanese police officer. The outbreak of violence and the growing friction between the Truku and the Japanese prefecture were preludes to the Truku War that took place in 1914, in which Sakuma Samata, the Governor-general of Taiwan, personally led 20 thousand Japanese soldiers to fight the Truku, and received an injury that eventually ended his life.
When Inoue learned of his father’s death, he vowed to repay the Aboriginals with the words of gospel. He started praying for Taiwan’s aboriginals daily, wishing they would learn the words of God. The sentiment is a bit condescending from today’s point of view, but it certainly was much more enlightened and tolerant in his day and age.
Two years after the death of his father, in 1908, Inoue applied to the Taiwan prefecture asking to be granted the right to preach to the Aboriginals. He was denied because the official state religion was Japanese Shinto.
So in 1911, Inoue applied to come to Taiwan as a medical professional, after two years of medical training. He was stationed in today’s Zhudong Jianshi township, servicing Atayal’s Mklapay village (today’s 嘉樂), and began dedicating 30 years of his life to Taiwan’s Aboriginals.
Inoue became fluent in Altayal, and gained a deep appreciation to Altayal culture. As a result, he became highly respected by the Altayal tribes. He would be summoned by tribal leaders whenever someone is ill or injured, and he then have to hike for hours if not days to get to his patients.
His service was abruptly suspended after he came down with Malaria. Even though he desperately wished to return to Taiwan, the spread of the Spanish flu once again stopped him.
When Inoue returned in 1922, he began servicing Aboriginals all over the island. He was especially active in Hsinchu and Central Taiwan, and interacted the most with the Altayal, Seediq, Truku and Bunun Aboriginals. After the Wushe massacre, Inoue was ordered by the Prefecture to treat the surviving 300 Seediq people.
Between 1937 to 1945, his eldest daughter, his youngest son and his second daughter all passed away due to illnesses as a result of living in the mountains. So in 1939 Inoue opened a clinic in Taipei and worked at Matsuyama’s mental sanatorium (today’s Songshan). Post war, Inoue asked to stay in Taiwan and continue his medical service. To do this, Inoue got himself a Chinese name Gao Tianmin (高天命). He later resigned from working at the mental saatorium and went to Yilan to preach and provide medical services to Altayal tribes there. Unfortunately, after the outbreak of the 228 incident in 1947, Inoue was forced to leave Taiwan, and the Aboriginals he had dedicated his life to.
After returning to Japan, he published a book called “God Weaves”, detailing his experiences in Taiwan and interactions with the Aboriginals. When Inoue passed away in 1966, there’s an inscription of tminun utux on his tomb stone, which is Altayal for “God Weaves.” In Altayal’s view of the universe, the every living being comes into existence through God’s weaving. When someone passes away, it is referred to as “masoq tminun utux”, which means God is done weaving.
