Looking for Sweet Lane: Citizen Writer Column Works

Principal Kamekichi Kurokawa

Kamekichi Kurokawa was born into an old samurai family in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, and was an educator who grew up in the Meiji era. He crossed to Taiwan in Meiji 32 (1899), and the following year took up a post at Damokuo Public School. Afterward he served successively at Makung Public School in Penghu, Kadang-ka Public School and others, and then became the third principal of Minong Public School.

As part of the first batch of educational bureaucrats in the early period of Japanese rule in Taiwan, when most Japanese officials regarded a posting to Taiwan as a dreaded prospect because of malaria and the frequent outbreaks of bandit (rebel) incidents, and many bureaucrats under the Governor-General's Office were merely filling positions, Principal Kurokawa stood out: he came from a samurai family, had excellent academic and professional credentials, knew English, and studied Chinese under the sinologist Keiken Sakata, so he seemed to have an exceptionally high enthusiasm for going to Taiwan to run schools.

In Meiji 41 (1908), while serving at Makung Public School, Principal Kurokawa was diagnosed with "tropical malaria." Records say he once had as many as 28 bouts of diarrhea in a single night, and there was a life-threatening complication of liver abscess, so the Penghu Hospital advised him to step down from teaching to recuperate. After nine months of recuperation, Principal Kurokawa again took up a post at Donggang Public School.

(Caption: After tidying the environment and building the trail, the volunteer friends who took part in the activity laid flowers and sang together, and finally posed for a group photo on the trail they had helped build. Photo by Chen Wei-tan.)

*The historical materials in this article about Principal Kamekichi Kurokawa were provided by Mr. Chen Wei-tan; the author alone is responsible for the content.

[References]

"Brief Biography of the Late Mr. Kamekichi Kurokawa, Holder of the Seventh Rank and Eighth Class of Merit" (transcription of the stele inscription)

Born on the eleventh day of the fourth month of Keio 2 in a samurai family of Gunma Prefecture. Crossed to Taiwan in the ninth month of Meiji 32 and served as principal of Damokuo and other small public schools. In the fourth month of Taisho 6 was granted the junior seventh rank. In the fourth month was transferred from Kadang-ka to serve as principal of Minong Public School. In the second month was granted the eighth class of merit and awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure. Died of illness on the twentieth day of the eleventh month of Taisho 9. Devoted to public service for more than twenty years, generous, resolute, bright and keen, and fit to serve as a model for later students. Therefore this stele is erected in commemoration.

Erected on the twentieth day of the tenth month of Taisho 10

Record on Principal Kurokawa in the Minong Township Gazetteer

The third principal, Mr. Kamekichi Kurokawa, took office in the sixth year of the Republic (1917) and went north to recuperate while ill in the eighth year of the Republic. At the very end, when his illness was critical and he was near death, he wrote a letter back to the school. The acting principal read it aloud at the morning assembly, and its gist was: "My illness can no longer be cured. After I die, please bury me at the highest point of Mount Yueguang, in a place where the school can be seen." Later, the two teachers Tsutsumi Takakazu and Doi Toshihito (Toshihito) received Principal Kurokawa's ashes and brought them back to Minong, and buried them on Mount Yueguang according to his wish.

"Beneath Minong Mountain" Lyrics/Music: Lin Sheng-xiang

One mountain comes to join another stretch of mountains, beneath Minong Mountain the mountain light is beautiful
One field after another, beneath Minong Mountain is a fine place
The righteous folk led the way to open the village, the Earth God blesses it
Our ancestors worked hard to farm, sweat and blood mean nothing
Beneath Minong Mountain is a good place, passed down from generation to generation