Ruisui Immigrant Village Site
瑞穂移民村（水尾移民村）
Site of a Japanese government-sponsored immigrant village (官營移民村) established from the mid-1920s in Ruisui Township, Hualien County, eastern Taiwan. Part of the colonial policy to settle Japanese farmers in Taiwan's East Rift Valley, the village specialized in tobacco cultivation and was one of over ten immigrant settlements established along the eastern coast during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945).
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History
The Ruisui Immigrant Village was one of several government-sponsored Japanese settlements established in Taiwan's East Rift Valley during the colonial period (1895-1945). The area, originally known as Mizuo (水尾) by the Japanese, was later renamed Mizuho (瑞穂) — meaning 'auspicious rice ears' — a reference to the region's abundant rice harvests and a term with deep significance in Japanese Shinto tradition.
The Taiwan Governor-General's Office began actively promoting immigration to eastern Taiwan from 1909, with the goal of alleviating population pressure in Japan while developing Taiwan's sparsely populated eastern regions. The first government-run immigrant villages were established in the Hualien area, including Yoshino (吉野, now Ji'an), Toyoda (豊田, now Shoufeng), and Hayashida (林田, now Fenglin). Ruisui became part of this network of settlements, with Japanese tobacco farmers arriving in the area in 1926 to develop tobacco leaf cultivation, followed by government-sponsored settlers moved in from elsewhere in Karenkō Prefecture.
The immigrant villages were carefully planned communities with well-organized grid-pattern roads, and typically included an immigration guidance office (移民指導所), police station, medical clinic, Shinto shrine, Buddhist mission, and elementary school. In the local-government reform of 1937, the surrounding area was organized as Mizuho Township (瑞穂庄) under Fenglin District of Hualien Harbor Prefecture.
Following Japan's defeat in 1945, the Japanese settlers were repatriated and Mizuho Township was reorganized under Republic of China administration as Ruisui Township (瑞穗鄉) in 1946. The former immigrant village was subsequently resettled by Hoklo, Hakka, and indigenous Amis people. While few original structures remain, the agricultural landscape — particularly the extensive rice paddies and former tobacco fields — continues to reflect the settlement patterns established during the colonial era.
Today, Ruisui Township preserves traces of its colonial past through place names, agricultural traditions, and scattered remnants of Japanese-era infrastructure. The area is also known for its hot springs, which were first developed during the Japanese period, and the Tropic of Cancer Monument nearby.