Dagou used to be the name of Kaohsiung city during the Qing Dynamic. In late Ming Dynasty, Dagou community was a branch of Makato tribe and they lived in the areas of Gushang District and mountainsides. To prevent from attack of enemy, the tribes planted bamboo around houses with a view like bamboo thickets. Dagou means bamboo in Pinpu language. After a long time, pioneering residents in Kaohsiung started to call it Dagou community and the seashore areas were referred to as Dagou.

Thereafter, there were growing numbers of China emigrants living in Kaohsiung. In 1563, the pirate Lin, Dou-Chian was clamped and attacked by Yu, Da-Yue and Chi,Ji-Guang and he was forced to flee to Taiwan. He used to slaughter numerous Pinpu people and used their blood to paint ships. The residents in Dagou community were forced to move to southern Agolin community (Pingtong). The leftover Makato offsprings lived with China emigrants for a long time. They were assimilated with Chinese and disappeared finally. Only the place titled Dagou in Pinpu language was remained standing for the past aboriginal traces.   

Till 1920, the 8th Japan Governor -Denkenjiro changed the Tainan branch hall and Dagou branch hall into Takao canton. The Japanese pronunciation of Takao is similar to that of Dagou.  From then on, Dagou started to become a historical title.