Donggang Lingsheng Temple

An unusual shrine built on the former site of a Japanese military crematorium used during World War 2 in Donggang, Pingtung. It was established around the late 1990s after local residents reported dreams sent by the spirits of Japanese servicemen lost when their vessels were sunk off southern Taiwan.

The principal deity is the bodhisattva Kshitigarbha (地藏王菩薩), but the temple is best known for three deified Japanese figures whose names reportedly reached a local medium through divine revelation and have shifted over the years: the naval officer Mifune Taro (三船太郎), Yamamura Toshiro (山村敏郎), and Yamamura Kumi (山村久美), variously described as a female physician or Mifune’s betrothed. A model of the cruiser Kinu (鬼怒號) stands among the temple’s collection of Japanese naval memorabilia.