十八羅漢洞

Eighteen Arhats Cave

May 10th, 2024

Last updated September 21st, 2026

Located on the flank of Yunlong Mountain (雲龍山) in eastern Keelung, Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) was established in 1971 as an outgrowth of the nearby Shengji Temple (聖濟宮), and likely occupies a former World War 2 bunker once manned by Japanese troops. Both initiatives were funded by Guo Yushui (郭玉水), a member of the local gentry from a family of Chinese medicine practitioners who later moved into local politics. It was a popular spot for domestic tourism in the 1970s, enshrining the eponymous arhats as well as numerous other deities and legendary figures. The cave temple suffered catastrophic damage during Typhoon Herb (颱風賀伯) in 1996 and subsequently closed. Much of what remained of the exterior of the attraction was dismantled in the early 2020s, and the site became a fixture of the urban exploration scene in Taiwan shortly thereafter.

Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) in 2016 — The entrance to Eighteen Arhats Cave in 2016.

The Sealed Entrance to Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — A tantalizing mystery sealed with bricks.

Thousand-Hand Guanyin Above The Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Oversize statues of Thousand-Armed Guanyin (千手觀音) flanked by Jintong (金童) and Yunü (玉女).

Outside The Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — The Goddess of Mercy and the servants of the immortals.

Above The Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — A closer look at the many-armed Guanyin statue.

My first visit to the cave took place in 2016, entirely by chance. I was hiking down from Ershanwan Fort when I happened to pass by the distinctive entrance to the cave with several giant statues looming overhead¹. I had no idea what this place was but when I learned the basics about its history—that it was a cave temple sealed after typhoon damage—I found myself captivated by the idea of whatever lay behind the bricked-up entrance, watched over by the serene visage of a Thousand-Armed Guanyin (千手觀音).

Stripped Bare Outside The Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Much of what remained of the site was dismantled in late 2022.

In the early 2020s photos began to surface in the urban exploration community that might have come from the cave. I visited Keelung several times from 2023 and 2025 and breezed by to check it out. Sure enough, someone had smashed a hole in the brick wall, and it was possible to take a peek inside. I was not prepared for any spelunking on that first visit so I only captured some photos from the entrance and vowed to return, better equipped and with friends, for there is safety in numbers on this kind of mission.

Inside The Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — A first glance inside the claustrophobic confines of the cave. The nooks on either side once held statues of the titular Eighteen Arhats (十八羅漢), which were all relocated to Shengji Temple prior to the cave being sealed.

Mazu Inside Inside The Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Mazu and her demonic helpers within the tunnel complex.

Later visits revealed a mythical wonderland in the dark passages cut deep into the mountainside. It was extremely damp inside, with condensation pooling into watery nubs along the ceiling, but the passageways were relatively dry and easily traversed. Almost every corridor featured new wonders: dioramas depicting classic tales from culturally Chinese literature, enigmatic figures looming in the unseen shadow, monks and generals and princes and fairies and in perfect stillness.

The Flooding of Jinshan Temple (水淹金山寺) Inside Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — The flooding of Jinshan Temple (水淹金山寺), from *The Legend of the White Snake* (白蛇傳).

Leifeng Pagoda (雷峰塔) Inside Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞)

Detail of Leifeng Pagoda (雷峰塔) Inside Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Leifeng Pagoda (雷峰塔), where the white snake is imprisoned at the end of that legend, with several characters from *Journey to the West*.

Birth of the Buddha Inside Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — This might be a scene from the birth of the Shakyamuni Buddha (釋迦牟尼), also known as *the* Buddha, or perhaps the Pure Land of Amitabha.

Nezha Churns The Sea at Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — A scene from the legend *Nezha Churns The Sea* (哪吒鬧東海), in which Nezha (哪吒) subdues the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas (四海龍王).

Lying On Ice to Seek Carp (臥冰求鯉) at the Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Possibly a depiction of Jin dynasty figure Wang Xiang (王祥) in *Lying On Ice to Seek Carp* (臥冰求鯉) from the *Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars* (二十四孝).

Patriotic Display at Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Yue Fei (岳飛), a Southern Song general, with his mother tattooing “serve the country with utmost loyalty” (精忠報國) on his back.

Tian Dan in the Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Tian Dan (田單), a general from the warring states period. Although armless when I first visited he was later decapitated by vandals.

Mechanical Monks at Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — A mechanical monk by the second entrance to the cave temple. It is unclear what this scene was, largely because several of these statues may have been moved into the enclosure at some point.

On one expedition my companions and I were spooked by sounds emanating from deeper inside the tunnel complex. At one juncture we heard the scuffing of feet and a torch beam blinded our swivelling eyes. A fellow traveller emerged, carrying an array of cameras, a Polaroid among them. We posed for a group photo and continued on our separate ways, inching through the passageways to see what lay beyond.

Huineng Shrine in Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Deep within the tunnel complex, a shrine to Huineng (惠能), sixth patriarch of Chan Buddhism.

Sixth Patriarch at Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞)

Devoted Monks Inside Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞)

Monks in the Dark at Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Monk statues in black-and-white. This section is far to one side of the complex and is mostly surrounded by tunnels that were not converted for use.

Dark Monk at Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — A spooky apparition in the darkness.

Moist Surfaces Inside Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Bare tunnels glistening with moisture. It is extremely wet inside, and it was not uncommon to encounter frogs hopping around in the darkness.

Wu Feng Diorama at Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — A diorama likely depicting Wu Feng (吳鳳), one of the few specifically Taiwanese scenes in the cave. This tale has been reconsidered in the modern era as it perpetuates negative stereotypes of Taiwanese Indigenous people, depicted on the right in this scene.

Diorama Inside the Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Presumably a mother and her daughter, but I was not able to puzzle out what legend this might have been from.

Letting Mosquitoes Feast on His Blood (恣蚊飽血) at Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Wu Meng (吳猛) (吴猛) and his elders in *Letting Mosquitoes Feast on His Blood* (恣蚊飽血), another tale from *Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars*.

Faceless Inside the Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞)

A Figure Inside the Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞)

Fright Night at the Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — A particularly harrowing figure in the cave temple.

SS Yongfeng Inside Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — One of the more unusual dioramas features the SS *Yongfeng* (永豐艦), an ROC gunboat later renamed in honour of Sun Yat-sen after his passing in 1925. It was sunk in October 1938 by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

In September 2026 this long-forgotten cave temple returned to public awareness after a group of young Taiwanese men entered the cave and filmed themselves lighting off firecrackers and destroying many of the remaining statues inside. This content was filmed, tagged, and posted in public, leading to an almost immediate backlash and the arrest of several suspects. It is precisely this event that led me to release my own long-embargoed photos to share what the cave temple was like before it was vandalized.

Side Entrance to the Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八羅漢洞) — Exit stage left.

Although it was readily accessible over the last several years I would expect it will once again be sealed. Should you choose to visit be sure to take proper precautions: bring a powerful flashlight, a mask or respirator, and don’t go alone! And unlike those vandal, I implore you to practice the urban explorer’s credo: take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints.

The cave temple was also famous for a red bull, possibly the Bull Demon King (牛魔王) from Journey to the West, perched on the hilltop overlooking the entrance to the cave. It is unclear whether this bull was also removed along with the state of the Thousand-Armed Guanyin around 2022 or 2023, but it remains visible on Google Street View in history mode. ↩

Map

Warning: this location is abandoned, hazardous, or otherwise neglected and may be unsafe and even dangerous! Exercise appropriate precautions when visiting.

警告：此處已廢棄或長期無人管理，可能存在潛在危險。造訪時請務必提高警覺，並做好相關安全防護措施。