Ozaki Hotsuma

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Ozaki Hotsuma (尾崎秀真, Nov. 11, 1874 - Nov.15, 1949), whose original name was Syūtarō (秀太郎), had the courtesy name Hakusui (白水) and the pseudonym Komura (古邨). He was from Gifu Prefecture of Japan and was a press editor, chief writer, Chinese poet and reporter in Japanese-occupied Taiwan.^[1]

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Ozaki Hotsuma, originally named Syūtarō, was born on November 21, 1874 (Meiji 7) in a rich peasant family in No. 100 Ko, West Shirakawa village (西白川村, nowadays Shirakawa-cho 白川町), Kamo District (加茂郡), Gifu Prefecture, Japan. In May 1886, in response to the “shokusan kogyo policy” (殖產興業, “increase production and promote economy”), his father sold his real estate and formed the Higashi Kamo Silk Association (東加茂蠶絲組合) to invest in the raw silk industry. But he became bankrupt due to poor management.^[1][2]

In March 1887, Ozaki graduated from the 4-year ordinary elementary school. He then lodged in the house of Tsukahara Keiichi (塚原敬一), a relative, in Seki-Cho (関町, nowadays Seki-shi 関市), Mino (美濃) to study in higher elementary school and learn medicine and Chinese poetry from Tsukahara. In March 1891, Ozaki graduated from higher elementary school, but as his family was unable to support him enrolling in higher education, he had no choice but to continue his self-study at Tsukahara’s house. On October 28 of the same year, the Great Nobi Earthquake (濃尾大地震) took place, in which Tsukahara’s house was destroyed. As a result, Ozake stayed at a local hospital and worked as a doctor’s assistant to help victims of the earthquake while saving some money. ^[1]

In 1892, introduced by his uncle Ichisaburō (市三郎) who lived in Tokyo, Ozaki moved from Mino to work in Tokyo and stayed at his uncle’s house in Kanda-Misakicho (神田三崎町). Ozaki first worked as a pharmacy clerk in Kondō (近藤) Hospital in Sumida-ku (墨田區), then he became an editor of the weekly Ikai Jihō (《醫海時報》), where he got acquainted with then Head of Health Bureau of Home Ministry Goto Shinpei (後藤新平). In 1894, during the First Sino-Japanese War, when Goto was the quarantine secretary of the Dismissed Servicemen Relief Association (解僱軍夫救護會), Ozaki accompanied him in conducting relief affairs. After the war was concluded, Ozaki returned to Tokyo to study Chinese poetry with Yoda Gakkai (依田學海), kogaku (国学) with Watanabe Ikarimaru (渡邊重石丸), and waka (和歌, Japanese poetry) with Takasaki Masakaze (高崎正風). During this period, Ozaki and his friends invested in and ran the Shin Shōnen (《新少年》) magazine, while also organizing the Momotarō Kai (桃太郎會) to encourage adolescents to take part in literature composition. It was also during this period that he got in touch with seal engraving again.^[1]

Moving south to Taiwan[edit]

In 1898, due to operation difficulties, the Shin Shōnen was merged with another magazine Shōkokumin (《少國民》) that was published by Hokuryukan (北隆館). But soon Ozaki decided to resign from his editor’s position because of ideological disagreement, and he joined to the newspaper Hochi Shimbun (《報知新聞》) to work as a reporter the next year. In April 1901, due to Ozaki’s fluency in Chinese, with Goto Shinpei’s recommendation, he went to Taiwan to be a reporter in the Chinese department of the newspaper Taiwan Nichinichi Shinpō (《臺灣日日新報》), at the same time teaching Chinese and calligraphy in the Private Taipei Middle School Association. In April 1904, he succeeded Momiyama Kinusu (籾山衣洲) as editor in chief of the Chinese edition. In 1907, with Muraki Onizora (村木鬼空), Sugisaka Ushima (杉阪牛魔) and others, Ozaki founded the first seal engraving society in Japanese-occupied Taiwan: the Mizutake Seal Society (水竹印社). It was founded to promote seal engraving, so Ozaki often published seal engraving works and related articles in Taiwan Nichinichi Shinpō to increase readers’ understanding and cultivation in appreciating seal-carving. In addition, Ozaki made his private collection of seals in books and gave them as gifts to people who were interested in learning more about seal engraving. He spared no effort to promote seal engraving in Taiwan. At the end of May 1910, he took the position of president of Taipei Middle School Association.^[2]

While he worked at newspaper agencies, Ozaki also participated in many missions in the public sector. In 1911, he held a concurrent post at the communication office as a trustee in the Government-General of Taiwan. When the Government-General of Taiwan wanted to compile a new history of Taiwan, Ozaki took part in the revision. However, later due to downsizing of the historical materials editorial committee, the revision project was discontinued in 1924. In response, Ozaki wrote a poem Resignation (罷官), then resigned from the post, grieving that the event was a disgrace to the Japanese academic circles. Nevertheless. Ozaki still published studies such as A Study of Four Thousand Years of Taiwan History (《臺灣四千年史の研究》) and Forty Years of Historical Tales in Taiwan (《臺灣四十年史話》) by himself. He extended his works into the disciplines of archaeology and aboriginal studies. After being unemployed for more than a year, Ozaki consecutively undertook posts such as Social Affairs trustee of Government-General of Taiwan, investigating committee member of Taiwan’s Association of Historical Sites, Scenic Sites, and Natural Monuments, councilor of Taiwan Art Exhibitions, and director of Taiwan Museum Association. In 1929, Ozaki became a permanent inspector of Taiwan Nichinichi Shinpō. In the same year, the Government-General of Taiwan’s Historical Materials Editorial Committee was reestablished, and Ozaki was appointed to the committee as an editor once more.^[3]

In 1941, Ozaki’s second son Hotsumi was involved in the “Sorge spy incident.” Despite Hotsuma trying his best to rescue his son during trial, Hotsumi was still sentenced to death on March 29, 1943. After receiving the bad news, Hotsuma took the cruiser Fujimaru (富士丸) in October to return to Japan for Hotsumi, but the ship was sunk by an American submarine, and Hotsuma drifted on the sea for 9 hours before he was rescued. In October 1944, Hotsuma returned to Taiwan to visit his other children, and after Hotsumi was executed, Hotsuma confined himself in his study all the time. ^[2]

In April 1946, the Second World War saw its end, and as a national of a defeated country, Ozaki returned to Japan. Ozaki had spent 45 years in Taiwan. Except for a few trips back to Japan, he only visited Xiamen from late April to early May in 1915, and he stayed in Taiwan for the remainder of the period. He passed away due to illness in his home on November 15, 1949.^[4]

Making exchanges and forming associations[edit]

While Ozaki was in Taiwan, he made exchanges with many intellectuals and formed associations with them. In addition to the Mizutake Seal Society he started in 1907, he also formed the Hobby Association (趣味の会) with Ishihara Kōsaku (石原幸作) in 1929. The Gyokuzan Seal Society was founded in the summer of 1935. Moreover, he also participated poetry societies such as the Aha Society (淡社) and Ei Society (瀛社).^[5]

Origins with museums[edit]

Ozaki’s origins with museums could at least be traced back to the opening of the Museum Affiliated to the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau, Ministry of Civil affairs, Government-General of Taiwan (abbreviated as the Government-General Museum below). The Government-General of Taiwan Museum was founded by the Japanese government in 1908 in Taiwan, which was a colony at that time. It is now known as the National Taiwan Museum (abbreviated as NTM below). On official records, Ozaki worked in the Government-General Museum during 1926~1928 (Showa 1-3).^[6][7]

In the Guide to Taiwan’s Museums (臺灣博物館の手引) issued by the Government-General Museum in 1926 (Taishō 15), staff and editor Matsukura Tetsuzō (松倉鉄蔵) quoted from Ozaki’s work An Outline of Ancient Taiwan History (《臺灣古代史綱》). Ozaki himself had reviewed the guide as well. This represented the policy in the early era of the Government-General Museum to actively find and acquire historical collections. Moreover, Ozaki also took part in planning exhibition of the museum’s historical department, and later led Sakuma Foundation’s Aboriginal Product Collection Project(佐久間財團蕃族品蒐集計畫), which started since 1927.^[6][7]

Sakuma Foundation’s Aboriginal Product Collection Project was a systematic national museum level grand collection project, which was promoted by both the Government-General of Taiwan’s Aboriginal Management Section under the Police Bureau and the Government-General Museum. Its main purpose was to commemorate Governor-General Sakuma’s contributions in aboriginal management, while also preserving aboriginal social customs and products that were undergoing change and may disappear gradually. By this standard, a Reference of Aboriginal Products Collection Plan (《蕃族參考品蒐集計畫書》) was enacted before the actual collection was conducted. There are three types according to the significance of various types of aboriginal collections: Level one, which had top priority in collecting, included beaded clothing and skirts of the Atayal people; necklaces and other neckwears of the Paiwan people (including Rukai and Puyama tribes); earrings and neckwears of Atayal, Saisiyat, Bunun, Tsou, and Paiwan peoples; pectorals of Atayal, Tsou, and Paiwan peoples; clay pots of Bunun, Tsou, Paiwan, Amis, and Tao peoples; knives of Atayal, Bunun, Paiwan, and Tao peoples; and bows and arrows of Atayal, Bunun, and Paiwan peoples. This project had gathered 1760 collections in total, and was an extremely important and massive collection of aboriginal products acquired by the museum at that time.^[6][7]

Among the collection products Ozaki obtained, most of them were from the Amis people. Many aboriginal products he gathered had notes of “Ozaki” attached to them. His collection showed no preference in type, item or ethnic culture. They could be broadly classified into clothing, ornaments, pottery, storage utensils, daily tools, luxury items, eating utensils, tools for manufacturing and repair, fishing gear, weapons, tools, witchcraft and religious items, photos, etc. Many of them were classified as level one cultural relics among collections in Sakuma Foundation’s Aboriginal Product Collection Project. In addition to related collection items of Sakuma Foundation’s aboriginal products, there were also historical collection items that were related to Ozaki in NTM’s collection classification, which mostly consisted of calligraphy manuscripts, photos, seal imprints and books, monument rubbings, official documents and other flat items. They were from Ozaki’s personal donations. There were also three-dimensional items such as Anping ceramic pots and fuji shelves, which were purchased and donated by Ozaki himself.^[6][7]

References[edit]

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