Bodies and Structures 2.0: Deep-Mapping Modern East Asian History

Types of Sacred Spaces

Within Taiwan during the era of Japanese rule, the physical sacred spaces—the earthly homes of deities—went by many names, each of which was associated with a particular tradition, and a particular ethnic community. On the Taiwanese side, most institutions were (and are) called gong , miao , or simiao 寺廟; on the Japanese side, Shinto institutions were (and are) called jinja 神社. All Buddhist institutions could be called si or ji (the first term is the Mandarin pronunciation, the second the Japanese), but some Taiwanese sites were also referred to as zhaitang 齋堂. These nuances are largely lost in English, since the words temple and shrine are largely interchangeable in meaning. Within this module, I use “temple” for all sacred spaces, although I reserve “shrine” specifically for those within the Shinto tradition.
 

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