Shitoushan Quanhua Temple

A famous temple complex partly built into caves in the hills of northern Nanzhuang, Miaoli. Among the spirits venerated here is Hiroeda Otoemon (廣枝音右衛門), a Japanese naval police commander who led some 2,000 Taiwanese conscripts in the Philippines during World War 2. Ordered to make a suicidal last stand as American forces closed in, he instead arranged his men’s surrender and shot himself to bear the responsibility; survivors began holding annual memorial rites in 1976 and enshrined his spirit tablet at the temple.