9/23/2012

Monga Train Station Hotel


Another great picture from the Formosa Vintage Museum Cafe. This is the Monga Train Station Hotel (日本明治時代民國前艋舺火車站前霧__旅館). I left a blank space for a character I don't know. I think it's ㄨ in the second tone, but it's not showing up in my Chinese typing program.

According to discussion, the Monga Rail Station was finished in 1901 right around where the Hoping (和平) Hospital is today. It could have taken the place of an older station built during the Ching Dynasty (a line from Keelung to Hsinchu was completed in 1891). I'm also guessing the money for its construction came out of 28,800,000 yen budget passed by the Imperial Diet in Tokyo in 1899. Work on a island-wide train network commenced in April, 1899, four years into the Japanese colonial era. 

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is [嶋]. The meaning is same as [島」.
Ref. Goo 辞典.
ChoSan

Patrick Cowsill said...

Dear Chosan,

When I type the phonetic into my computer, the character doesn't show up. It must be a very unusual character.

Anonymous said...

It is Japanese Kanji; not available in Chinese Kanji though most of the Kanji in Chinese and Japanese have the same meanings.
BTW,Kiri-Shima (霧島)is a city located in Kyushu (九州)near Kagoshima(鹿児島)prefecture. It is well known fact that many Japanese immigrated to Taiwan are from Kyushu. It is possible the hotel called 霧島温泉旅館 in front of Manga station is owned and operated by Japanese originally from town of Kiri-Shima.
Cho-San

Patrick Cowsill said...

Thanks for the information, Chosan. I want to look into it more now.

Anonymous said...

Interesting enough that Kiri-Shima(霧嶋)was also the name of a famous Japanese battleship that was destroyed by US in Solomon sea during WWII. It is interesting that from a simple name we can dig out so many facts.
Cho-San

Anonymous said...

Speaking of alternative characters; it seems to actually say "旅舘"... Guess they thought a roof over one's head was more important than food.

Anonymous said...

「館」が本来の字。(さらに言えば、明朝体は環境依存文字「館」が正字。)
「舘」は、“建物だから「食」より「舍」のほうがふさわしい”と思った人がこしらえた字。
「舍」という部首はないので、しかたなしに「舌」の部に入れられています。

「鋪」の場合も同じ理由から、「舖」が作られましたが、こちらはさらに常用漢字で「舍」が「舎」になったのに対応して、新字体では「舗」になりました。
こうなると、「舌」の部では引きにくいので、『新版漢語林』では「口」の部に所属替えをしています。


Anonymous said...

そうなんですか!面白い話ですね。
説明してくれてありがとうございます。

Anonymous said...

rounin(浪人?)さん
異人さんの日本語にしては、大変お上手で頭が下がります。日本語はとても底が深く、私の公学校尋常科六年程度の教育では、歯が立たない言葉に良く出会います。今後とも宜しくお願いいたします。
ChoSan(張三)

Patrick Cowsill said...

浪人 means homeless people. What are you guys talking about, Chosan?

Anonymous said...

You are right, 浪人in Chinese is 流浪人 hence homeless people.In ancient Japan 浪人 is the samurai 侍 or 武士 without lord 殿様;simply put "unemployed." Recently ronin is used to describe those high school graduates who failed to enter college and preparing for next year's entrance examination. Have a good day, Patrick.

Anonymous said...

Yes, haha!

First of all, thanks to ChoSan for the very kind words.

I actually did start using this name after failing a year in high school. Before that it was "Munin", a raven from Norse folklore. So "Rounin" is kind of a pun.

EyeDoc said...

Interesting discussion. One can find fictional 浪人 in many Akira Kurosawa's movies, e.g., the Seven Samurai, Yojinbo, etc. The best known real 浪人 were the 47 赤穂浪士 who revenged their Lord Asano's death on 1/30/1703 and 46 of them sentenced by the Tokugawa gov't to seppuku.

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