高松豐次郎生長於日本近代國家建構的過程中，早在來臺之前已有藉大眾演藝與電影啟迪民權思想的實踐經驗。世紀之初，受首相伊藤博文囑其協助殖民地開發，而前來臺灣巡迴放映電影。自一九○八年起長住臺灣並興建戲院、經營演藝事業，直到一九一七年為止，高松豐次郎在臺灣的歷史上留下不少「第一」的記錄，包括拍攝第一部以臺灣為題材的影片、以臺、日人為共同對象廣建戲院奠定全臺戲院普及之基礎、創設最早的臺語現代劇與劇團等。本文在重建高松在臺生涯與事蹟，並分析其從事殖民地戲院事業的理念、性質與影響之後發現：在日本殖民統治尚未穩定、武官總督對臺灣山地原住民展開武力鎮壓的年代裡，高松豐次郎在全島普建戲院，為殖民統治建置常設的社教空間，並積極地以電影、戲劇作為宣傳教化工具，與殖民地行政體系相輔相成，使其有別於同時期其它以營利為主要目的的日人戲院業者。臺灣現代劇場的硬體（戲院）與軟體（臺灣正劇）由高松豐次郎建造、催生，並非出自臺灣民眾的主動追求。臺灣現代劇場史的揭幕，充分反映臺灣曾為殖民地的歷史特殊性。

Takamatsu Toyozirou was born in a time when Japan was constructing itself into a modern state. Before moving to Taiwan, Takamatsu had been engaged in promoting civil rights by means of popular entertainment and movies. In the beginning of the twentieth century, Takamatsu came to tour and to project movies in Taiwan at the request of Ito Hirobumi, then the Prime Minister of Japan, to assist in the colonial development.During his stay in Taiwan from 1908 to 1917, Takamatsu became an entrepreneur of theatre construction and showbiz management. A pioneer among his contemporaries in the circles of theatre and cinema in Taiwan, Takamatsu was in charge of the construction of the first theaters taking both Taiwanese and Japanese residents as their target audience, which would lead to the prevalence of theaters around the island. Takamatsu also founded the first theater company staging modern Taiwanese-spoken drama, which he named Taiwan Seigeki (Taiwan Drama). He was even the first filmmaker taking Taiwan as the subject matter of his works.The author finds, after re-establishing the historical facts of Takamatsu's career in Taiwan and analyzing the influences of his colonial theater business, that during the time when the Japanese colonial rule had not yet stabilized and the imperial forces were attacking the aboriginals in the mountains, Takamatsu built theaters to set up permanent spaces for social education, serving the colonial rule, and used theater performances and movies as tools of propaganda and education. Forming a reciprocal relationship with the colonial administration, Takamatsu's enterprises were distinct from those of his profit-oriented Japanese competitors.The hardware and the software of modern Taiwanese theater have their first historical appearance in the form of colonial theater buildings, and Taiwan Seigeki, respectively. They were not born as a result of the active efforts of the Taiwanese, but came into being at the hands of Takamatsu. The inauguration of the history of modern Taiwanese theater reflects the historical particularity of Taiwan as a former colony.