Ximending Tianhou Temple

Between sneaker shops and neon signs, this red facade is easy to miss. Inside lives Mazu, the protector of seafarers, worshipped in Taiwan since the first migrants arrived. But the building holds a stranger story.

1A temple without a home

The temple was founded in Bangka in 1746 under the name Xinxing Gong. In 1943, in the middle of the war, the Japanese authorities demolished it to open a road, and worshippers sheltered the statue of Mazu in Lungshan Temple. In 1948, under the new government, the goddess moved here, into the empty building of Kōbō-ji, a Japanese temple of the Shingon school of Buddhism. A fire in the early 1950s destroyed the old structure, and the present temple was rebuilt from 1959.

2A Japanese monk on a Chinese altar

In a side hall next to Mazu you will find an unexpected figure: Kūkai, the Japanese monk also known as Kōbō Daishi, founder of Shingon Buddhism. Since 1973, monks from Mount Kōya in Japan have come here every autumn to hold ceremonies.

According to temple tradition, Kūkai was not on the altar at first: he appeared to worshippers in their dreams and asked to be venerated again.

Look out too for Mazu's two guardians: Qianliyan, «Thousand-Li Eye», and Shunfeng'er, «Wind-Following Ear», two demons whom, legend says, the goddess defeated and turned into her helpers.

3What to look for

• The narrow facade, squeezed between modern buildings.
• The stone statue of Kūkai in a pilgrim's hat, beside the small pond.
• Mazu's guardians, one green-skinned and one red, on the main altar.