The also known as the ''Jinguashi Shinto Shrine'', ''Gold Temple'' or is a

Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

located halfway up a mountain in the Gold Ecological Park in Jinguashi,

Ruifang District Ruifang District () is a suburban District (Taiwan), district in eastern New Taipei City, Taiwan. History During Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese rule, Ruifang was called , and was administered as part of of Taihoku Prefecture. Mining ...

New Taipei City New Taipei City is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality located in regions of Taiwan, northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 4,004,367 as of January 2023, making it the most populous city in Taiwan, a ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

(formerly Kinkaseki, Zuihō town, Kirun district,

Taihoku Prefecture Taihoku Prefecture (臺北州; ''Taihoku-shū'') was an administrative division of Taiwan created in 1920, during Japanese rule. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Keelung, New Taipei City, Taipei and Yilan County. Its government office, ...

during Japanese rule). Kinkaseki town (now Jinguashi) at the time of Japanese rule was said to have been the number one

gold mine Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to more comple ...

town in Asia. The Ōgon Shrine was built and managed on March 2, 1898 ( Meiji 31) by , who started the iron industry for the first time in Japan and had the mining rights of the Kinkaseki Mine. , , and were enshrined as the three . During Japanese rule, a grand

matsuri Japanese festivals, or , are traditional festive occasions often celebrated with dance and music in Japan. The origin of the word ''matsuri'' is related to the ; there are theories that the word ''matsuri'' is derived from meaning "to wait (for ...

was held every year and the mine workers and nearby residents gathered together to celebrate. Originally, there was a Honden Main Hall, haiden, Temizuya Purification Pavilion, and Sandō Path leading to the shrine. Along the path were three Torii Gates, five flag banner platforms, one copper bull, and ten pairs of stone

Tōrō are a type of traditional East Asian lantern made of stone, wood, or metal. Originating in China, stone lanterns spread to Japan, Korea and Vietnam, though they are most commonly found in both China – extant in Buddhist temples and traditional ...

lanterns. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when the Japanese left Taiwan, the shrine was destroyed by vandals and only the stone pillars of the

Honden In Shinto shrine architecture, the , also called , or sometimes as in Ise Shrine's case, is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined ''kami'', usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a sta ...

, two

Torii A is a traditional culture of Japan, Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred, and a spot where kami are welcomed and thought to ...

Gates, and four pair of stone Tōrō lanterns remain today.

External links

About the Gold Ecological Park
*

''vertvert.blogzine.jp''. 2006-04-11. Archived fro

on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2018-08-06 - More pictures of the shrine and a Japanese residential house. 1933 establishments in Taiwan Buildings and structures in New Taipei Shinto shrines in Taiwan Tourist attractions in New Taipei 20th-century Shinto shrines {{Taiwan-religious-struct-stub

See also

External links