From Takow to Kaohsiung

Administrative units during Period of Japanese Rule of Taiwan 1895~1945

This is a little complex, firstly because there were many changes during the five decades of Japanese colonial rule, and secondly becuase administrative units of similar levels sometimes had a varety of names.

One example of the latter are the words translated into English as "prefecture" (similar to Taiwan's counties today), which included:
縣 (Jpn. ken; "county")
州 (Jpn. shū; "state")
廳 (Jpn. chō; "hall")
民政支部 (Jpn. minseishibu; "civil affairs branch")

Regarding the former:
i) there were six re-organizations of administrative divisions between 1895 and 1901;
ii) another change before the end of 1901, with some simplifications in 1909;
iii) and finally in 1920, following the Dōka (同化; "assimilation") policy which considered Taiwan to be separate but equal to Japan, an new system of political divisions was introduced in Taiwan that were similar to those those of Japan proper.

Governor-General's Office (now the Presidential Office Building), completed in 1919.

Following the final re-organization, subdivisions used between 1920 and 1045 included:
州 (Jpn. shū; Hoklo: chiu) prefecture
廳 (Jpn. chō; Hoklo: thiaⁿ) prefecture
市 (Jpn. shi; Hoklo: chhī) city
郡 (Jpn. gun; Hoklo: kūn) district
支廳 (Jpn. shichō; Hoklo: chi-thiaⁿ) sub-prefecture
街 (Jpn. gai; Hoklo: ke) town
庄 (Jpn. jō; Hoklo: chng) village
Among units smaller than these were 大字 (Jpn. ōaza, literally "large words") and 小字 (Jpn. koaza, "small words") for large and small administrative sections of a village, as well as 町 (Jpn. chō; Mdn. ding) indicating a "part of a ward".
This last was very widespread throughout urban parts of Taiwan, but almost entirely disappeared in the postwar period after retrocession to ROC rule, perhaps since this has the very different meaning of "boundary of / between fields" in Chinese (Mdn. ting).
Probably the most notable of few examples to survive is Ximending (西門町) in Taipei's Wanhua District.

Tainan Air Group



[Info and photos for this page were largely edited from wikipedia
This text copyright Jiyue Publications 2022]