Ushinosuke Mori

Ushinosuke Mori (森丑之助, January 16, 1877–July 4, 1926), who often published articles under pen names Mori Heiushi (森丙牛) and Mori (森), was a Japanese naturalist born in Gojo Muromachi (五條室町), Kyoto. A drop out of Nagasaki Commercial School (長崎商業學校), he went to Taiwan as an army interpreter and began to conduct research, until he ended up missing on board a steamship that was on Inner Taiwan route in 1926. The scope of his research not only included anthropological investigations on Taiwan aborigines, folklore objects, and archaeology, he was also well involved in collection and research of plants, making him a Taiwan naturalist during the early Japanese occupation period. Due to his fervent love and contributions to Taiwan aboriginal studies, he was praised as the “Leading researcher of Taiwan aborigines (臺灣蕃界調查第一人).” The specimens he collected were mostly preserved in the National Taiwan Museum.