新竹縣北埔鄉濟化宮

Posted by Eyedoc

這世界真的是有善心人,他們建了一座七層大樓,設了每一位的牌位,來紀念兩萬多位二戰出征未歸的臺灣人.這就是新竹北埔鄉的濟化宮.
This world truly has many kind-hearted and magnanimous people. Some of them have put up a 7-story building and enshrined the name plates in memory of more than 20,000 of WWII Taiwanese war-dead. This place is the Ji-Hua Kung located in the town of Bei-Pu, Hsin-Chu County.

除此處之外還有位於台中市,立了"靈安故鄉"紀念碑,規模比較小的寶覺寺.兩處的工作人員都告知,戰歿人名單乃抄錄自日本東京的靖國神社.家屬們的接受關鍵事實上是在名冊的正確度及開放性.
In addition to the Bei-Pu site, there is another located in Taichung, the Bao Jue Shi, a small temple with a stone monument also in memory of the Taiwanese war-dead. The workers at both sites told us that the names were copied directly from Yasukuni Jinja in Tokyo. The key to acceptance for us the surviving family members, in fact, is the authenticity and the accessibility of the name lists.

台中寶覺寺的名冊只在每年中元節開放瀏覽.我們還沒能查閱.北埔濟化宮的則是家屬在辦公時間內隨時可查,比較便民.
The name lists in Bao Jue Shi in Taichung are available only once a year during Chung Yuan Ji-e; whereas the ones in Bei-Pu are readily accessible to all family members, during office hours.

濟化宮的名冊分成兩種.第一種似是原始版,並非手抄而是排字式的.除姓名外還有原日治時代居住地址,但無其他資料.可能是靖國神社名冊的節縮版.第二種則是濟化宮整理的抄寫版,基於原住地,如台北州等,而且以姓同列 (似乎只有漢姓),所以可以很容易的查到牌位供奉位置的排,段,號.牌位以毛筆正楷書寫:格式是"故某人靈璽"格式.花的功夫不小,令人欽佩.當然名冊錯誤或遺漏大約不可能避免.當以靖國神社正版為主.
Ji-Hua Kung has two versions of the name lists. The first seems to be the original with names and pre-1945 addresses but without additional facts. This may be an abbreviated Yasukuni version. The second is hand-written, categorized by family names and the original area of residence. With the latter, the location or the "address" of the name plates can be easily found. There are unavoidable errors and omissions, the true original is still the one preserved inside the Yasukuni.

在目前還沒有數位化的情況下,要短期內找到與神靖丸共歿的全體人員名單是會有相當程度的困難.反過來說,我們在這兒從手抄本中也很快的在數分鐘內找到了台南州的陳茂淇醫師和臺中州的洪元約醫師 (兩位一起供奉在三樓),所以並不是完全不可能.只是資料不全是一大障礙.
Without digitization at present time, it is very difficult to complete the name lists of all who went down with Shinsei Maru. On the other hand, we are able to seek out the names of Dr Chen and Dr Hong in the record books and where their name plates are placed in the building. It is not totally impossible to recover the names; although the incomplete personal data remain a major obstacle.

也許這段己被遺忘的神靖丸歷史能再見一線曙光吧 - 我們遺屬先在此謝謝一些熱心人仕的協助.
Perhaps this long-forgotten Shinsei Maru story can see the light of the day again. We the surviving families would like to hereby express our gratitude to those who have assisted us along the way.