TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Going for a hike in the countryside is a pleasure when most of your time is spent indoors feeling anxious, and the Diaoshan Trail (貂山古道) is a treat, with its Tomb of Lost Love (無緣之墓) and the heart-wrenching stories behind it.
The nearly three-kilometer trail, which is mostly in shade, connects the mining town of Jinguashi (金瓜石) and the village of Mudan (牡丹), which are both in greater New Taipei City. In older times it was an important path between the two settlements; nowadays, an abandoned mining office, dilapidated stone houses, and the Tomb of Lost Love are all that remains.
The trailhead on the northern side is located beside an earth god temple on the Caoshan Defense Road (草山戰備道) above the Jinguashi settlement, while the southern trailhead on the Mudan side is 3.4 km away from Mudan Train Station.
A sign erected beside the tombstone contains four legends that explain the existence of the tomb.
The first legend goes that during the Japanese colonial period, a Japanese mining engineer who had a fiancée back home relocated to Taiwan for work. The couple had planned to get married after the engineer finished his two-year stint and repatriated.
However, the Japanese woman didn’t receive any messages from her lover. Therefore, she took a long trip to Taiwan to look for him. When she arrived at the mining area, she learned that the man had died from an illness. Saddened by the news, she erected the tombstone with the inscription “The Tomb of Lost Love” in his memory.
The second legend goes that in 1903 during the Japanese rule, a Japanese mining engineer in Taiwan fell in love with a local woman, so he went back to Japan to receive the blessings of his parents. When he returned to Taiwan, he was confronted with the heartbreaking news that the woman he loved had succumbed to disease. With a great pang, he erected the tombstone before returning to Japan.
According to the third legend, two Japanese came together to Shuangxi in 1903 to look for mineral veins, but one of them fell into a valley and died from injuries sustained in the accident. The location happened to be right on top of a mineral vein. Depressed and alone, the other prospector had no desire to explore the mine further, and he went back to Japan carrying his business partner’s ashes.
Sometime after, the wife of the deceased came to Taiwan in search of her husband, with no knowledge of the tragedy which had befallen him. Upon learning the news, she headed back to Japan to collect his ashes. As it was late in the year and the wind and rain were severe, the wife fell ill and died during her journey.
After hearing of the incident, local people erected the tombstone in the spot where the woman died in memory of her steadfast love for her husband.
The fourth legend goes that a Japanese man came to the area to fulfill his dreams of becoming a gold miner, but before being able to dig out any gold, he went bankrupt. He then erected a monument to his lost love of riches.
Which do you think is the most likely?
(George Liao photos)