Taipei City Youth Development and Family Education Center

Zen Buddhism was brought to Japan during the Chinese Tang dynasty. Master Dogen, who founded Japan’s Soto School of Zen, was a monk who travelled to China in search of truth in Buddhism, and later spread the doctrine of Buddhism in Eihei-ji (Fukui, Japan). Keizan Jokin, the fourth
generation abbot of Soto School, preached at the Soji-ji. Both Eihei-ji and Soji-ji were named the principal Soto Zen training centers by the Tokugawa Shogunate to govern the Zen Buddhism temples nationwide.

Japan’s Soto School came to Taiwan with the army in 1895 and began actively preaching. The construction of the Soto School Taipei Branch was completed in 1910, including a wooden main hall. The main hall collapsed due to a typhoon two years later, and was reconstructed with reinforced concrete in 1923. Later, upgraded to become the Taiwan Branch, it also features structures like the kitchen (kuri) and Inari shrine.

In order to attract more Taiwanese followers, Taiwanese preacher, Sun Xinyuan, started fundraising to build a Guanyin meditation hall for Taiwanese to pay respect. The hall was completed in 1915. “Taiwan Buddhist High School” was established on the site the following year, with two 2-storey western-style school buildings completed in 1922 and 1935, respectively, in an L-shaped layout. It was later renamed “Private Taipei High School” and is now known as Taibei High School.

The making of the temple bell in the Bell Tower was first outsourced to Kyoto in 1920 and arrived in Taiwan the following year. The bell tower building, on the other hand, was completed in 1930 through fundraising effort by the High School’s principal, Jiang Shanhui, and deputy proctor, Shen Derong. The Bell Tower features a sanmon (three gates) structure in its bottom masonry layer; an overhanging balcony; and a modern Japanese-style, faux-wood upper layer made from reinforced concrete. The hip-and-gable roof is termed “irimoya-zukuri” in Japanese.

In 1997, it was designated a historic heritage of the City. Formerly known as the "Bell Tower of Donghe Zen Temple”, it was renamed the “Bell Tower of Soto School Taiwan Branch” in 2012 to accord with the history of the building.

Published by the Taipei City Youth Development and Family Education Center