Tainan Mituo Temple

　　Tainan Mituo Temple is located in East District, Tainan City, and was built during the reign of Zheng Jing in the Mingzheng period (referring to the regime led by the Zheng family, descendants of the Southern Ming to early Qing period, aiming to restore the former territories of the Ming Dynasty). It is one of the Four Great Ancient Temples of Tainan. The current Mituo Temple is the result of renovation work started in 1971, and no longer retains its original Minnan architectural style.

　　When Mituo Temple was first established, it was relatively small in scale and was originally called “Mituo Chamber,” enshrining the Amitabha Buddha. It was gradually expanded during the Qing Kangxi era and was subsequently renamed “Mituo Temple.” In the Qing Qianlong period, the temple was listed as one of the Seven Temples and Eight Shrines of Taiwan Prefecture City. During World War II, the temple was bombed by the Allied forces. Although it underwent repairs after the war, the original structure was eventually completely demolished in 1971, and the present form was completed in 1980.

　　The current Mituo Temple is a three-courtyard structure. The first courtyard’s mountain gate has three bays, with the two guardian deities, Heng and Ha, enshrined on either side inside the gate. The second courtyard’s main hall is a three-story building. The first floor is the Mahavira Hall, enshrining the Shakyamuni Buddha, Manjushri Bodhisattva, and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, while the third floor houses ancient Qing Dynasty plaques. The third courtyard is the rear hall. The center of the first floor is the Ksitigarbha Hall, with plaques of the temple’s successive founding abbots and devotees enshrined on both sides. The second and third floors are the Scripture Depository and the Yuantong Treasure Hall, which enshrines the Thousand-Armed Guanyin, respectively.

　　Tainan Mituo Monastery Must-visit reason: One of Tainan’s most famous Four Great Ancient Temples