Wushe Incident

Musha Incident
A photo taken by the Japanese authorities in the aftermath of the Incident.
Date October 27 - December 1930 Location Musha, Nōkō District, Taichū Prefecture, Japanese Taiwan (modern-day Ren'ai Township, Nantou County, Taiwan) Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Tkdaya	Empire of Japan Toda Truku (Taroko)
Commanders and leaders
Mona Rudao †	Eizo Ishizuka
Strength
~1,200	~2,000
Casualties and losses
644 killed	~134 killed and 215 wounded on the October 27th attack Military casualties unknown.

The Musha Incident (Chinese and Japanese: 霧社事件; pinyin: Wùshè Shìjiàn; Wade–Giles: Wu⁴-she⁴ Shih⁴-chien⁴; rōmaji: Musha Jiken; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bū-siā Sū-kiāⁿ), also known as the Wushe Rebellion and several other similar names, began in October 1930 and was the last major uprising against colonial Japanese forces in Japanese Taiwan. In response to long-term oppression by Japanese authorities, the Seediq indigenous group in Musha (Wushe) attacked the village, killing over 130 Japanese. In response, the Japanese led a relentless counter-attack, killing over 600 Seediq in retaliation. The handling of the incident by the Japanese authorities was strongly criticised, leading to many changes in aboriginal policy.

Previous armed resistance to Japanese imperial authority had been dealt with harshly, as evident in responses to previous uprisings such as the Tapani Incident, which resulted in a cycle of rebel attacks and strict Japanese retaliation. However, by the 1930s, armed resistance had largely been replaced by organised political and social movements among the younger Taiwanese generation. Direct police involvement in local administration had been relaxed, many harsh punishments were abolished, and some elements of self-government, albeit of questionable effectiveness, had been introduced to colonial Taiwan.

However, a different approach was used in order to control Taiwan's indigenous peoples. Taiwanese aborigines were still designated as seiban (生蕃^?, "raw barbarians" or "wild tribespeople"), and treated as savages rather than equal subjects. Tribes were 'tamed' through assimilation, the process of disarming traditional hunting tribes and forcing them to relocate to the plains and lead an agrarian existence. Further resistance was then dealt with by military campaigns, isolation and containment. In order to access natural resources in mountainous and forested indigenous-controlled areas, Governor-General Sakuma Samata adopted a more aggressive terrain policy, attempting to pacify or eradicate aboriginal groups in areas scheduled for logging within five years; by 1915, this policy had been largely successful, although resistance still existed in more remote areas.

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