有人討論，霧社事件是突發事件呢？或者有預謀？霧社事件，莫那‧魯道扮演的角色為何？有人說他扗場指揮，但也有族人說當時莫那‧魯道扗山裏，是他兒子起義，後來莫那‧魯道來接手。

Dakis Nawi的遺孀Obing Tado(倭名高山初子，漢名高彩雲)後來扗廬山開一家碧華莊溫泉館維生。族人郭名正訪談，問及實況。操場起義時，Obing穿和服，勇士雖然只殺日本人，但情況婚混亂，誤殺了兩個漢人，看到和服先砍再問也不一定。

Obing躲進一個大米缸以避難。理所當然，她全神貫注聽外面廝殺的聲音；她很肯定地與郭老師說，她聽到莫那‧魯道的聲音。她原本與莫那‧魯道相識，所以認得出他的聲音，所以她確定，霧社起義時，莫那‧魯道扗場指揮。

This year’s box office hit Seediq Balé (click here for a trailer) has renewed interest in the Wushe Incident (click here) and sparked interest in Taiwan's aboriginal cultures (click here for an earlier post on this blog about the movie.)(aww, come on, go ahead and click!)

Wushe is a town near the geographical center of Taiwan, where the Japanese had penetrated after finally breaking through the People Stop Gate (pass) mentioned in the previous post. The Japanese occupied the town, and established a government, police, a post office, and a school. At an athletic meet at the school on October 27, 1930, the Seediq aborigines, fed up with Japanese arrogance, insults, abuse, and exploitation, slaughtered over 130 Japanese. They spared all the Chinese, but two were killed by accident. The Japanese retaliated with the savagery they displayed throughout the Pacific theater, bombing and gassing the Seediq in the mountains. Over a thousand Seediq were killed in the immediate aftermath, and many more later.

(The Chinese population of Taiwan never gave the revolt any support in any form. The only outside support they got was from the owner of a local general store, 巫金墩 Wu Chintun, probably a member of the heavily sinicized 巴宰Pazeh tribe of 平埔族Pepo, lowland aborigines; he donated the contents of his store to the rebels, and spent a long time in Japanese prison as a result.)

Question of considerable discussion are, first, How planned or spontaneous was the revolt? Some say the Sediq revolted on the spur of the moment; others say it was carefully planned. Second, what role did Mona Rudo play in the revolt? He is the central character of the movie, but some aborigines say that the revolt was instigated by his sons, and Mona himself was in the mountains, taking over leadership only after the revolt started.

Practically the last survivor of the original massacre on the playground was Obing Tado, a nipponified Seediq who took the Japanese name of 高山初子/ Takayama Hatsuko; and later the Chinese name 高彩雲(1914～1996). Her husband was a nipponified Seediq named Dakis Nawi; Japanese name 花崗二郎Hanaoka Jiro, and served in the Japanese police force.

Dakis Pawan郭明正, a Seediq of my generation, knew Obing personally. (I used to go hiking in that area all the time in the early 1970s, and she ran a hot spring hostel called 碧華莊 so I must have seen her.) He asked her about the revolt (in her own language, of course), and asked whether Mona Rudo was on the scene.

When the revolt broke out, Obing was wearing a kimono, as was proper for the wife of a member of the Japanese policeman. She was terrified that she would be beheaded as a Japanese in the confusion, so she hid inside a large urn used for storing rice. You can bet she was listening to every sound with all her concentration. She very distinctly heard Mona Rudo running back and forth, shouting to the warriors. She knew Mona Rudo personally, and was very familiar with his voice, so she is positive that he was on the scene when the revolt took place.

Mona Rudo stands in the middle in this photo; on his side is Dakis Pawan's (郭明正) grandfather.

I have no idea why the last paragraph is on a white background, but I can't get rid of it. Bear with it.