Ushinosuke Mori

Ushinosuke Mori (森丑之助, January 16, 1877–July 4, 1926), who often published articles under pen names Mori Heiushi (森丙牛) and Mori (森), was a Japanese naturalist born in Gojo Muromachi (五條室町), Kyoto. A drop out of Nagasaki Commercial School (長崎商業學校), he went to Taiwan as an army interpreter and began to conduct research, until he ended up missing on board a steamship that was on Inner Taiwan route in 1926. The scope of his research not only included anthropological investigations on Taiwan aborigines, folklore objects, and archaeology, he was also well involved in collection and research of plants, making him a Taiwan naturalist during the early Japanese occupation period. Due to his fervent love and contributions to Taiwan aboriginal studies, he was praised as the “Leading researcher of Taiwan aborigines (臺灣蕃界調查第一人).” The specimens he collected were mostly preserved in the National Taiwan Museum.

Life
Mori Ushinosuke studied at the Nagasaki Commercial School (長崎商業学校, now Nagasaki City Nagasaki Commercial High School 長崎市立長崎商業高等学校) at a young age. He dropped out and ran away from home when he was 16, and began a wandering life.

In May 1895, he went to Taiwan as an army interpreter to conduct field study on Taiwan aborigines; he traveled all around the Taiwan Island and visited local tribes, collecting a copious amount of data in fields of anthropology, history, folklore, archaeology, botany, and geography in the process and compiled books from the data. He gained titles such as “Taiwan Aboriginal Know-it-all (台灣蕃通)” and “Grand Chief of Taiwan Aboriginal Tribes (台灣蕃社總頭目).”

In 1900, when Mori Ushinosuke conducted an anthropological survey with Torii Ryūzō (鳥居龍藏), he had the sudden impulse to hike the Niitakayama (新高山, now Yu shan 玉山). After enduring two days of food shortage crisis, his party crossed the Tataka Saddle (塔塔加鞍部), passed the Front Peak (前峰) and West Peak (西峰), and finally reached the summit of the Main Peak (主峰).

On May 17, 1915, after the Bunun chief Lahu Ali (拉荷·阿雷) initiated the Dafun Incident (大分事件), Mori Ushinosuke advocated for a non-suppressive approach on administering aboriginal affairs and the bestowment of autonomy to aborigines.

In July 1925, he boarded the steamship Kasadomaru (笠戶丸), which was on the Inner Taiwan route. While en route, he disappeared on June 4, and the authorities ruled that he committed suicide by jumping into the sea.

Appraisal
Miyamoto Nobuhito (宮本延人) praised him as the “Leading researcher of early Taiwanese aboriginal studies (早期台灣原住民研究的第一人);” Torii Ryūzō praised him as the “Leading researcher of Taiwan aborigines.”

Satō Haruo (佐籐春夫)--Colonial Journey (殖民地之旅) 〈Wusha (霧社)〉(February 6, 1925, stick memorization (生記)) Thirteen: “Later, after about three days, I arrived in Taihoku. I became a guest in the house of the author of Taiwan Aboriginal Chronicles (台灣蕃族誌). During this journey, I received most of the help from this person. He also set the schedule of this journey for me personally. Moreover, it was also this Mr. M (Mori Ushinosuke) who introduced me to the Chief of Civil Affairs Mr. S.  He is a studious incognito, but is also an adventurous in-field surveyor. It is said that there is no one else who had conducted deeper surveying on the aboriginal mountains in this island than he did, and the most amazing and respectful point was that he was never armed when he conducted those surveys…”

Work collections and publications
Those known by October 20, 2011:


 * Ushinosuke, Mori, Adventure Report on Crossing the Central Mountain Range between Jiji and Bazaizhuang (《集集拔仔莊間中央山脈橫斷探險報文》), collected in Taiwan Branch Library of National Central Library.,
 * U. Mori & S. Nakai, Landscape of Taiwan Mountains (《台灣山嶽景觀》), Taihoku: Shinkodo, Taishō 2 (1913).
 * Ushinosuke, Mori, Atlas of Taiwan Aboriginals (《台灣蕃族圖譜》), volume I & II, Taihoku: Temporary Taiwan Old Customs Investigation Committee, Taishō 4 (1915).
 * Ushinosuke, Mori, Taiwan Aboriginal Chronicles (《台灣蕃族誌》), volume I, Taihoku: Temporary Taiwan Old Customs Investigation Committee, Taishō 6 (1917),
 * Ushinosuke, Mori, Atlas of Taiwan Aboriginals, (Song, Wenxun, Trans.), Taipei City: SMC Publishing Inc., 1994.
 * Ushinosuke, Mori, Traveling among the Raw Aborigines: Mori Ushinosuke’s Adventures in Taiwan (《生蕃行腳：森丑之助的台灣探險》), (Yang, Nanjun, Trans. & anno.), Taipei City: Yuan-Liou Publishing Co., 2000.

Related studies

 * Yang, Nanjun; Miyaoka, Maoko; Miyazaki, Seiko; etc., The Phantom Anthropologist: Mori Ushinosuke: A Lifetime Dedicated to Studying Taiwan Aborigines (《幻の人類學者:森丑之助:台灣原住民の研究に捧げた生涯》), Tokyo: Fukyosha, 2005.


 * National Taiwan Museum’s permanent exhibition Discovering Taiwan: Revisit the Age of Taiwan’s Natural History and Naturalists (〈發現臺灣：重訪臺灣博物學與博物學家的年代〉)and its dedicated exhibition book: The exhibition brought up discussions on early 20th century, a period where the Government-General of Taiwan Library was first established and called the “Age of Discovery” as the study of Taiwan’s natural history and naturalists flourished. The discussions were meant to reexamine the discoveries, discoverers, and the tradition of discovery of natural history that served as the foundation of National Taiwan Museum’s collection and shaped the museum’s style. Mori Ushinosuke’s story and specimen collection were displayed in the first unit “Way to Discovery,” outlining how naturalists of that generation emphasized personal on-site surveying-which referred to the so-called “knowledge is gained alongside people’s journeys” investigation tradition.

Related entries

 * 伊能嘉矩、金關丈夫、鳥居龍藏、鹿野忠雄、宮本延人、移川子之藏、馬淵東一、國分直一、淺井惠倫、千千岩助太郎