Kusakabe Meikaku 日下部鳴鶴 (1838-1922) and his achievements occupy an important position when studying the history of calligraphy in modem Japan, and he has been taken up and studied in various ways by many researchers. Likewise, much research has been conducted on calligraphers belonging to his school of calligraphy. But most of this research could be said to have been rather limited in scope insofar that it has focused only on contemporary calligraphic exchange within Japan or with China.
  Along with China and Korea, Taiwan too can be regarded as a region that lies in East Asia, like Japan, and possesses a culture of calligraphy. As is well-known, Taiwan was under Japanese rule for approximately fifty years from the time when it was ceded by Qing 清 China to Japan as a result of the Sino-Japanese War (1894) until the end of World War II (1945).
  In recent years, research and exhibitions dealing with calligraphy of the period of Japanese rule have been taking place in various forms in Taiwan. But to the best of my knowledge there has been no research on the achievements and calligraphy-related activities of Kusakabe Meikaku and his pupils that cites actual source materials and is grounded in a systematic and scientific viewpoint.
  Accordingly, in order to fill this gap, in this article I review the actual facts regarding the concrete activities and achievements of Kusakabe Meikaku and his pupils during the period of Japanese rule and examine the influence that their activities had on contemporary calligraphic circles in Taiwan. I also shed light on what sort of significance and role their activities and achievements during their sojourns in Taiwan had in calligraphic exchange between Japan and Taiwan at the time.