日本鋁株式會社花蓮港工場構內社

March 5th, 2024

In 1939 the Japanese Aluminum Company (日本鋁業株式會社) established a factory near the newly built Port of Hualien to produce aluminum for the war effort. A small, unranked company shrine (構內社) was constructed on the grounds around 1940 but not much is known about its original appearance. The factory was bombed by American forces during World War 2 but the shrine apparently survived. After the war the site was taken over by the Taiwan Fertilizer Company (台灣肥料公司). What became of the shrine in the intervening decades is unclear; some sources attribute its destruction to Typhoon Longwang in 2005, while others suggest it was more likely dismantled after a 1974 government edict requiring the removal of Japanese imperial relics. By the early 2010s only the weathered concrete base remained.

A former Shinto shrine fancifully restored by the Taiwan Fertilizer Company.

In 2015 Taiwan Fertilizer rebuilt the shrine as part of a larger effort to transform its deep ocean water extraction plant into a tourism factory. The reconstruction was informed by the surviving foundation, photographs and records of similarly-sized shrines, and a general understanding of construction methods of the era, though its historical accuracy is a matter of some debate. The replica features a torii (鳥居), chōzubachi (手水鉢) washbasin, a short sandō (参道), ema (絵馬) plaques, and a honden (本殿) in the nagare-zukuri (流造) style, strapped down to its base to withstand typhoons. It was the first reconstructed company shrine in Taiwan. Although originally built for the aluminum factory, it is now more widely known as the Taiwan Fertilizer Factory Shrine (台肥構內社).