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Tuku Mazu Shelters the Outer Villages: Tuku Shuntian Temple is dedicated to Mazu, commonly known as “Tuku Ma” (Tuku Mazu). Its present layout and appearance were established during the Shōwa era reconstruction. Works by the Zhang-school master carpenter Hu Xian and the Quanzhou Xidi-school Wang Jinmu, as well as masterpieces by renowned craftsmen Jiang Jiu, Jiang Quanhe, and Chen Tianqi, are all preserved here. Introduction: Tuku Shuntian Temple began as an “earthen shrine.” After renovation and rebuilding, its front hall was started in the 14th year of Daoguang in the Qing dynasty (1834); the rear hall was added six years later (1840). In the 2nd year of Xianfeng (1852) local gentry repaired the front hall and built the Jingsheng Pavilion and left wing. In the 2nd year of Guangxu (1876) funds were raised for the right wing. After more than a century the temple showed wear; local gentry Yan Dingquan, Lin Yongzhen, Chen Rongshi, Lin Zhaoding, Chen Taihuan, Lin Jin, Chen Qingquan, together with Japanese official Shinozaki Kiyoyoshi (town mayor), raised funds in 1934 during Japanese rule to restore it to its present magnificent form. In 1940 Japan’s kominka policy was enforced in Taiwan. Shuntian Temple’s renovation director Shinozaki Kiyoyoshi, seeking to comply, contacted Japan’s “Old Shingon Sect Taiwan Proselytizing Plan” and applied to become its 34th affiliated temple, officially establishing “Tainan Prefecture, Kobi District, Tuku Village, Tuku Branch” as a branch of “Kōyasan Daishi Church.” A statue of Avalokiteśvara was invited from Kichijō-ji in Gunma Prefecture and enshrined in the main hall, while the Holy Mother of Heaven and other deities temporarily retreated to the rear hall. Thus Shuntian Temple escaped destruction by the Japanese government. In 1945 the Holy Mother of Heaven returned to the main hall, and the Guanyin Bodhisattva was moved to the rear hall. Architectural Features: Tuku Shuntian Temple stands in the center of Tuku township, a typical southern-Chinese temple with swallowtail roof ridges and spectacular “dragon-and-phoenix presenting the three stars” ceramic cut-paste decorations. The main façade has three bays plus dragon and tiger side gates, totaling five doors when viewed from the front—an honor reserved for deities of imperial-queen rank. All structural members—ridges, purlins, brackets, columns, beams, eaves, and ridgepoles—are of Chinese-fir, joined by superb carpentry and carving techniques characteristic of Qing-period architecture. The interior is divided into the entrance bay, central courtyard, main hall, rear hall (Guanyin Hall), Hall of the Three Officials, and Hall of Wenchang Dijun, all linked by cloisters and eight-trigram doors. Image source: Photo by Hsueh Ying-chi. (Authorized image—do not reproduce.)