The Sakuma Foundation's Indigenous Artifacts Collection Project was a large-scale systematic acquisition program for the collection of artifacts of the indigenous peoples in Taiwan under Japanese rule. Between 1927 and 1929, the Sakuma Foundation was responsible for funding the acquisition of 1,760 artifacts from Taiwanese indigenous peoples, which were acquired by the Indigenous Pacification Section of the Department of Police of the Government-General of Taiwan.
Historical background
The establishment of the Sakuma Foundation was associated with Sakuma Samata, the fifth governor-general of Taiwan during the Japanese colonial rule. Sakuma served as governor-general from 1906 to 1915, and was the longest serving governor-general among all the governor-generals of Taiwan. He was also known as “governor-general of indigenous pacification” At the onset of his term of office in 1906, he set a five-year plan for the pacification of the indigenous peoples, with the important policy objectives of "eradicating uncultured aborigines", promoting the development of "aborigine’s land", and acquiring Taiwan's mountain resources. The five-year indigenous pacification program was divided into two phases. The first phase, which began in 1907, was based on a combination of suppression and appeasement, and its attack strategy was to lure the tribes in the mountainous region to agree to set up a line of defensive militias in their territory, and after the deployment was completed, large-scale force was used to suppress the indigenous people. Those who had submitted were moved out of their home territory and made to cultivate the land. The second phase, which began in 1910, was mainly a strong military expeditionary campaign to force the indigenous peoples of Taiwan to submit from the north to the south and east. At the end of the armed conflicts in 1914, Governor-General Sakuma reported the completion of the indigenous pacification project to the Emperor and left office in April 1915. He passed away in August 1916 due to an old illness caused by the indigenous pacification expedition.
On July 31, 1918 (Taisho 7), Hiroshi Shimomura, the then civil administrator of the Government-General of Taiwan, submitted an application for the establishment of the Sakuma Foundation, the purpose of which was to commemorate the achievements of the fifth governor-general, Mr. Sakuma Samata, in developing Taiwan, with scholarship, charity, and relief work, and to set up a monument to Governor-General Sakuma. It was established on September 12 of the same year with the consent of Governor-General Akashi Motojiro. In accordance with the General Provisions of its founding, the Sakuma Foundation was organized with the civil administrator of the Government-General of Taiwan as its chairperson, and the chairperson appointed the directors to form the Board of Directors, as well as the supervisors, officers, and staff to take charge of the affairs of the Foundation and the general affairs. The Sakuma Foundation was dissolved after the end of the Japanese colonial rule, having lasted for about thirty years.