1930s Japanese Documents In 2000 Indigenous Revitalizations

松江市玉造 Shimane Japan

This 1000 years old jade/bead making hut/house was on the ground of a public mixed-gender hot spring.
 Two Yu ゆゆ sign identify a public mixed-gender hot spring.
 Inoshishi (wild boar) alert!!

 (Yu ゆ 湯 is how U'lay (Wulai) 湯社 was named.)

The role 1930s Japanese documents play in 2000 indigenous revitalizations is PHENOMENAL. 

Two examples I personally witnessed/ experienced - 

1. A few years after I was shown by a Tsou elder in Alishan how Tsou designed ‘bird trap’ using giant taro leaf — I found exactly how it was done in meticulous details in 1930s Japanese document at a Taipei bookstore 南天.

2. 1930 Tsou killing-pig in Nantou I witnessed in 2020 with Bunun in Hsinchu.

1930s meticulously detailed of Tsou's ‘ killing pigs’ I have witnessed exactly the same in Jianshi Hsinchu with Bunun pig-roasters (who insisted pig-roasting is a Bunun thing and ONLY Bunun). 

Japanese 1930s records shows Tsou tradition however in great details including removal of offal, separated from meat, and prepared for cooking.

3. Today indigenous differentiate pig and boar vocabulary is borrowed from Japanese. Regardless pig’s Austronesian linguistic root.

Modern day indigenous pig vocabulary shows Japanese influence.

イノシシ Inoshishi 猪 (Japanese wild boar)

Indigenous regional variation - 

'ci' for example. Implication of fierce long-teeth 

 Inoshishi 猪 (boar) and Buta 豚 (pig)

In Japan, the wild boar (inoshishi) symbolizes courage, determination, fertility, and prosperity, often seen as fierce but also a protector.

@Kyushu where in some parts boar meat is a traditional cuisine

Alishan Tsou Villages

4. Note 269 臺灣赤楊/ 臺灣榿木(Alnus Formosana) Formosan alder has a symbiotic relationship with an actinomycete which fixes nitrogen in the soil. (1930)

What can be seen or read today about indigenous agroforestry, many (and most) are sourced from Japanese records in 1930s.

1930s Bunun cultivation of Formosan alder under Japanese supervisions (active and extensive cultivation during Japanese Administration for its economy and soil preservation value)

2017 Studied as Atayal tradition instead of Bunun.