Tainan Shrine (Japanese: 台南神社, romanized: tainan jinja) was a Shinto shrine made outside of Japan by the Empire of Japan.[1]: 101 It was linked to imperialism and State Shinto rather than local support for Shintoism[2]: 30 It was established in 1920 and upgraded in 1925 and its main deity was Prince Kitashirakawa.[2]: 38 [3] who died during the Japanese invasion of Taiwan[3][1]: 107 from malaria.[4][1]: 107 He was enshrined in most shrines in Taiwan including Taiwan Grand Shrine.[4][5] This was seen as a beginning of a new Taiwanese Japanese civilization.[1]: 101
| Tainan Shrine | |
|---|---|
台南神社 | |
 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Shinto |
| Deity | Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa |
| Year consecrated | 1920 |
 Glossary of Shinto | |
The death of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa was presented as parallel to the much older story of the life of Koxinga, a Japanese man who became an official under the Mind dynasty, and was forced to flee to Taiwan after the Qing took over, drove the Dutch from Taiwan and died of malaria.[1]: 107
Koxinga Shrine was built by the followers of Koxinga and the Japanese converted it into a Shinto Shrine after their invasion. Isogai Seizō requested it be a national shrine but it ended up only being ranked quite low as a prefectural shrine.[1]: 108
Tainan Shrine was built on the site of the death of the prince, a few blocks away from Koxinga Shrine.[1]: 110 It was unique in being granted permission to worship only the prince and no other deities, as almost all other shrines would worship the Three Pioneer Kami (開拓三神, Kaitaku Sanjin) Ōkunitama, Ōkuninushi, and Sukunahikona too..[1]: 112
People were forced to visit shrines at this time by the government rather than going of their own volition.[2]: 38 It held an elaborate festival every January.[3]
The main office is still used today.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h Shimizu, Karli; Rambelli, Fabio (2022-10-06). Overseas Shinto Shrines: Religion, Secularity and the Japanese Empire. London New York (N.Y.) Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-350-23498-7.
- ^ a b c Nakajima, Michio (2010). "Shinto Deities that Crossed the Sea: Japan's "Overseas Shrines," 1868 to 1945". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 37 (1): 21–46. ISSN 0304-1042. JSTOR 27822898.
- ^ a b c Operations, United States Office of the Chief of Naval (1944). Taiwan (Formosa).: Tainan Province. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department.
- ^ a b Han Cheung (26 May 2019). "Taiwan in Time: The prince who became a god". Taipei Times.
- ^ "台南神社及其外苑（現成功橋）-國立成功大學文學院-踏溯課程" [Flowing Konishi. Route introduction. Tainan Shrine and its outer garden (currently Successful Bridge)]. National Cheng Kung University. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ "Former Tainan Shinto Shrine Office-Taiwan Religious Culture Map-Religious Cultural Heritage in Taiwan". 2022-10-04. Archived from the original on 2022-10-04. Retrieved 2023-04-30.