Nankunshen Daitian Temple
Main Deities
About
Almost every Wangye temple in Taiwan with a name people recognize comes back to one place to 'pay respects to the ancestor' — Nankunshen Daitian Temple in Beimen District, Tainan. It is, quite literally, the head temple of Wangye (Royal Lords) worship in Taiwan. This National Monument enshrines the Five Royal Lords — Lords Li, Chi, Wu, Zhu, and Fan — and its standing among Wangye temples could hardly be higher. The temple square is wide open, and the halls are filled with cut-porcelain mosaics, stone carving, and painting. When the pilgrimage season comes around for the Royal Lords' birthdays, processions from branch temples all over Taiwan pour back to the mother temple with drums and gongs roaring — one of the most spectacular religious sights in southern Taiwan.
History
The story begins in 1662, the sixteenth year of the Ming Yongli reign — close to the time Koxinga came to Taiwan — making this one of the oldest Wangye temples on the island. Its most legendary chapter is the 'contest of magic' between the Five Royal Lords and the 'Child Lord' (Gina Gong) of Wanshan Hall. The two sides fought over the same auspicious plot of land, neither able to prevail, until they agreed to share the incense offerings — and to this day the two stand side by side on the site. The temple moved to its present location in 1817, with the new building completed in 1822, and from then on it grew ever grander, hailed as the head temple of Wangye worship. Every year in the late fourth lunar month, during the pilgrimage season, crowds of pilgrims from across Taiwan flood in. It was designated a historic site in 1985 and is today a National Monument.
Nankunshen Daitian Temple
Beimen District, Tainan City
Visitor Info
Address
No. 976, Kunjiang, Beimen District, Tainan City
Region
Beimen District, Tainan City
Plan Your Visit
- Hours
- Daily 6:00 AM – 9:00 PM
- When to Go
- During the pilgrimage season in the last third of the 4th lunar month each year, pilgrimage groups and performance troupes from branch temples all over Taiwan flood back to the head temple, making it the liveliest time of the year.
Checked on 2026-10-13 · Sources: Google Maps