Nankunshen Daitian Temple南鲲鯓代天府

Type

Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)

Location

Taiwan, China · Taiwan · Beimen District, Tainan · No. 976, Aoliao Village

Coordinates

23.2861, 120.1431 Map ↗

School

Daoism in Taiwan

First built

1662 (16th year of the Yongli reign of Ming) · Originally built on the Nankunshen sandbar; owing to coastal erosion, clan members of the Wang and Hong surnames proposed relocation in 1817, and the temple was completed on Kanglang Hill in Beimen in 1822 (the second year of the Daoguang era).

Heritage status

National Monument (1985)National Important Folk Custom: 'Pilgrimage Season of the Five Marshal Lords' (2013)

Overview

The Nankunshen Daitian Temple principally enshrines the Five Lords of the Li, Chi, Wu, Zhu, and Fan surnames (the Wangye, or "Royal Lords"), popularly honored as the "Kings of Kunshen"; it has long been known as the "Head Temple of Taiwan's Wangye Cult," with more than 21,000 branch temples carrying its incense division and about seven million pilgrim visits a year, making it the most heavily worshiped Wangye temple in Taiwan. Legend traces its founding to the Ming loyalist period, when a royal barge bearing the images of five Wangye deities drifted ashore onto a sandbar. The temple was originally built on the Nankunshen sandbar; owing to coastal erosion, clan members of the Wang and Hong surnames proposed relocating it in 1817, and it was completed at its present site on Kanglang Hill in Beimen in the second year of the Daoguang era (1822). The temple also enshrines Wanshan Ye, the "Child Lord," whose legendary land dispute with the Five Lords is a well-known motif in Taiwanese folklore. The building is renowned for its stone carving, painted decoration, and cut-and-paste ceramic art (jianzhan); construction began on the Lingxiao Treasure Hall in 1993. It was designated a nationally protected historic monument on November 27, 1985; on October 4, 2013, the "Pilgrimage Season of the Five Lords" was designated an Important National Folk Custom, during which branch temples from around the island return each year in the middle to late fourth lunar month to make pilgrimage — one of the largest pilgrimage events in Taiwan. In character it belongs to the Wangye-cult strand of Taiwanese popular religion, though the temple identifies itself as Daoist.

Highlights

• The legend of the Five Lords and the "Child Lord"
• The "Head Temple of Taiwan's Wangye Cult"
• The Pilgrimage Season of the Five Lords (an Important National Folk Custom)
• Cut-and-paste ceramic art and stone carving