Fangliao Donglong Temple

A syncretic folk temple in Fangliao completed in 1998 for the deified Japanese naval officer Tanaka Tsunatsune (田中綱常), venerated here as General Tanaka (田中將軍). It was founded after a local woman, Shi Jiehao (石界好), dreamed of a Japanese soldier following a visit to a wartime bat cave; most sources identify this as the Guhua Tunnels in neighbouring Chunri, though others point to those in Shitouying.

The historical Tanaka first landed on the Fangliao coast during the Mudan Incident (牡丹社事件) of 1874, and in 1895 became one of the first Japanese officials posted to Taiwan, where he helped establish the colony’s household registration system. He had also taken part in repatriating the 69 survivors of the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul, wrecked off Wakayama in 1890, a connection that has since drawn Turkish representatives and Tanaka’s own descendants to the temple.