Erlun Water Shrine

A small Japanese colonial era water god (水之神) shrine next to Dayilun Canal (大義崙圳) in rural Erlun, Yunlin. Not too much is known about it, but it might have been constructed in the mid-1930s, around when the canal was built or renovated. Its current appearance represents a post-war, and likely more recent, addition to give the shrine more of a Japanese aesthetic. It was not an actual Shinto shrine with a kami, nor would there have been a torii. Although such small water shrines would have been fairly common around Taiwan this is one of only a handful known to still exist. Erlun was likely Jiron in Japanese, but the original name of this shrine is elusive.