Taiwan Kenpeitai Headquarters Site

The Taiwan Kenpeitai (臺灣憲兵隊) was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army in colonial Taiwan, established in August 1895 shortly after Japan formally took control of the island following the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Its headquarters was located in the Nogi-chō (乃木町) district of Taipei — named after Governor-General Nogi Maresuke — in an area corresponding to modern-day Zhongzheng District near the intersection of Zhonghua Road Section 1 and Changsha Street Section 1.

During the first seven years of Japanese rule (1895–1902), the Kenpeitai served as the primary force for suppressing armed Taiwanese resistance to colonial authority. The organization's systematic campaigns against guerrilla fighters across the island were documented in the "臺灣憲兵隊史" (History of the Taiwan Kenpeitai), which remains one of the most important primary sources for understanding early colonial-era resistance movements and local history.

The organizational structure of the Taiwan Kenpeitai underwent several transformations reflecting Japan's evolving colonial administration. Initially established as a standalone "Taiwan Kenpeitai" in 1895, it was disbanded and reorganized under Tokyo's central Military Police Command (憲兵司令部) in September 1897, with Taiwan's territory divided among three separate military police units. These were consolidated into the "13th Military Police Unit" (第十三憲兵隊) in 1904, then renamed the "Taiwan Kenpeitai" again in 1907. After 1919, the Taiwan Kenpeitai came under the operational command of the Taiwan Army Command (臺灣軍司令部). In 1940, it was reorganized into the "Taipei Kenpeitai" and "Tainan Kenpeitai" units. Finally, on May 19, 1942, as wartime security demands intensified, the "Taiwan Kenpeitai Command" (臺灣憲兵隊司令部) was formally established at Asahi-chō (旭町) in Taipei to provide unified command over all military police operations across the island, focusing on counter-espionage and wartime public order.

Beyond its military police functions, the Kenpeitai in Taiwan served as an instrument of political control. It conducted surveillance of political dissidents, monitored anti-Japanese movements, censored publications, and investigated cases of sedition. The organization worked in conjunction with the civilian police and the Governor-General's intelligence apparatus to maintain colonial order. During the Pacific War years, its role expanded to include enforcement of wartime mobilization regulations, monitoring of foreign nationals, and prevention of espionage.

Following Japan's surrender in August 1945, the Taiwan Kenpeitai Command was dissolved; the remaining military police were placed under the Taiwan Army Command and continued to keep order, enforce discipline among Japanese troops and handle the handover to the Chinese military police until they were repatriated in 1946. The headquarters site in Taipei was subsequently taken over by the Republic of China military police (中華民國憲兵), which continues to maintain facilities in the general area. The site thus represents a continuous military-police presence from the Japanese colonial security apparatus to the postwar Republic of China garrison.