The Prince of Kitanomaru Park

Kitanomaru Park is most famous for hosting Nippon Budokan, an indoor arena built for the 1964 Olympics judo competition. It has hosted countless events since then, including concerts by The Beatles and ABBA.

The park is less well known for having the statue of Prince Yoshihisa Kitashirakawa, who died in Taiwan in October, 130 years ago.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to translate Toshio Watanabe's The Meiji Japanese Who Made Modern Taiwan (Lexington Books, 2023). In that book, Watanabe discusses not only the dedicated men, such as Shinpei Goto and Yoichi Hatta, who helped transform, unite, and modernize Taiwan, but also the early challenges it had in pacifying the large island due to its resistance to Japanese rule.

Japan came to occupy and administer Taiwan as a result of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Qing's lead negotiator told his counterpart, Ito Hirobumi, that Japan would come to regret it, as Taiwan at the time was unruly and violent. No doubt many of Japan's leaders during the first few years came to feel that way.

Prince Yoshihisa was one of those sent to help pacify the island. He landed on May 31, 1895. However, he would not last the year. He died on October 27 in Tainan, reportedly from malaria, although there were rumors that he died as a result of combat injuries.

Adoption, Priesthood, Civil War

Yoshihisa was born on April 1, 1847, in Kyoto. He was the 9th son of Prince Fushimi Kuniie, who was head of one of four branches of the Imperial family eligible to succeed the throne. As a younger son, he was destined neither to inherit the Fushimi line nor sit on the throne. Therefore, he pursued a life first in religion and then later in the military.

In 1858, Yoshihisa was adopted as the foster son of Emperor Ninko and received the title of prince. He was tonsured and entered the Buddhist priesthood at Rinno-ji Temple in Nikko. Later, he served as the head priest of Kan'ei-ji Temple in Ueno, which had long been associated with the Tokugawa shogunate and the imperial family.

When the Meiji R e storation began in 1868, he sided with the Tokugawa loyalists. He was even declared by them as a potential emperor (the so-called "Northern Court" emperor) in opposition to Emperor Meiji during the brief Boshin War.

After the defeat of the Tokugawa forces, he was captured but pardoned by the new Meiji government in 1873. Yoshihisa was then released from his religious vows and restored to secular status.

Founding of the Kitashirakawa-no-miya House and Military Career in the Imperial Army

Upon returning to lay life, Yoshihisa was granted a new imperial title in 1873. That was the founding of the Kitashirakawa-no-miya, a collateral branch of the Japanese imperial family. The new princely house was one of the cadet lines established to strengthen and modernize the imperial institution under the Meiji government.

Yoshihisa became an officer in the newly formed Imperial Japanese Army, reflecting the Meiji state's efforts to involve the aristocracy in military leadership. He trained in modern European (particularly French and Prussian) military systems, spending several years abroad and even becoming engaged to a German woman.

However, he returned to Japan in 1887 and was commissioned as a major general, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant general. In the latter capacity, he was given command of the 4th Division in 1893. Then, after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, he was transferred to the elite 1st Division, known as the Konoe Division. From there, he served on the Chinese mainland. He was recognized as a competent and disciplined commander.

Dispatch to Taiwan

Following Taiwan's cession to Japan, orders were issued to garrison the island. On May 22 and 23, 1895, the Konoe Division's First Transport Unit, commanded by Prince Yoshihisa, departed from Port Arthur and Dalian. Initial plans called for landing near Keelung, to the north of Taipei, or Tamsui, to its west. For several reasons, those two sites were abandoned in favor of the northeastern coast at Sandiaojiao.

The prince and his men landed on the morning of May 31 to start the pacification campaign. Their unit departed the next day for Keelung. They would move southward along the western coast over the next five months until they entered Tainan City.

*Memorial on the northeastern coast of Taiwan, originally marking the Kitashirakawa Palace Expedition and later changed by the Kuomintang. (©Robert D Eldridge)*

There was resistance in various locations along the route, leading to some fierce battles. However, what troubled the units was the uniquely Taiwanese humidity and heat, along with the unsanitary conditions, which were unlike anything they had experienced before.

At one point, they had to stay in an area for close to a month due to men becoming ill with malaria. Many were sick, and several died, including high-ranking officers. Although Yoshihisa remained well at that time, he became sick on October 18, on his way from Chiayi to Tainan.

Despite having a high fever, he pressed on and eventually had to be carried on a stretcher. He died the evening of October 27, after being told that Tainan had been pacified and thanked for his "outstanding service" by Admiral Sukenori Kabayama. Kabayama was in overall charge of the invasion force and the first Governor-General of Taiwan.

The Monument

I recently had the opportunity to visit the site where Prince Yoshihisa went ashore, traveling there with some Japanese friends and our Taiwanese hosts. Today, it is the site of the Yanliao Resistance Monument commemorating Taiwanese who died protecting their homeland against the Japanese.

The exact location of his landing in Aodi (at Blue Bay Park) is known because Kabayama had his staff place stakes in the sand to record the event. Therefore, a monument could be built afterward.

That monument was built the following year, in 1896, as the Kitashirakawa Palace Expedition Memorial Monument. However, after World War II, Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist forces arrived and began the sinofication of Taiwan, and concurrently, its de-Japanization. Thereafter, the monument was changed to mark the resistance against the Japanese.

Prince Yoshihisa is believed to be the first member of the Imperial family to have died outside of Japan and the first to have set foot on Taiwan. He was deified and initially enshrined at a Shinto shrine known as the Taiwan Shrine in 1901. This action reflected his role as a "protector spirit" of Japan's colonial soldiers.

He subsequently was honored in other shrines throughout the country as they were built along the route his forces took.

Prince Yoshihisa's soul was also enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine. He was the first member of the Imperial family in modern times to have died in war.

Fittingly, his statue, built in 1903, in Kitanomaru Park, is a short walk away from Yasukuni Shrine.

Author: Robert D Eldridge, PhD

Dr Eldridge is a former political advisor to the US Marine Corps in Japan and author of numerous books on Japanese political and diplomatic history. Any opinions expressed in this article are his alone.