Chiayi Park & Kagi Shrine Ruins

Chiayi Park (嘉義公園) is a historic public park in the East District of Chiayi City, Taiwan, established in 1910 (Meiji 43) during the Japanese colonial period. Spanning over 268,000 square meters, the park served as a center of colonial civic life and today preserves some of the most significant Japanese-era Shinto shrine remnants in Taiwan.

Kagi Shrine (嘉義神社, Kagi Jinja) was founded within the park on October 28, 1915 (Taishō 4), with Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa as its principal deity, alongside Ōkunitama no Mikoto, Ōnamuchi no Mikoto, Sukunahikona no Mikoto, and Amaterasu. It was listed as a kensha (prefectural shrine) on October 23, 1917. A complete rebuilding on a grander scale began in November 1940 and was finished with the completion of the annex buildings in August 1943, and on March 28, 1944 it was elevated to kokuhei-shōsha (national small shrine) status — one of three shrines in Taiwan, with Hsinchu and Taichung, raised to that rank in the 1940s.

After Japan's defeat in 1945 the shrine stood idle until 1949, when the Chiayi authorities converted it into a Martyrs' Shrine (忠烈祠), and the park was renamed Zhongshan Park (中山公園) after Sun Yat-sen. On April 24, 1994, the main hall was destroyed by an accidental fire. On the site of the former main hall the city then built the Sun-Shooting Tower (射日塔; construction 1997–1999), a modern observation tower whose design draws inspiration from an indigenous Tsou tribal myth about shooting down the sun.

The former shrine office (社務所, shamusho) and purification hall (齋館, saikan), built in the classical Japanese Shoin-zukuri architectural style, survived the fire; with the other surviving annexes they were designated a city monument in October 1998. The shrine office had opened as the Chiayi City Historical Relics Museum in August 1993, and after restoration of the purification hall the museum reopened on January 5, 2001, now operating under the brand name "Shōwa J18" (昭和十八). The museum exhibits Chiayi's multicultural history spanning indigenous, Japanese colonial, and postwar eras.

Numerous original shrine elements remain scattered throughout the park grounds, including stone tōrō lanterns lining the sandō approach path, komainu guardian lion-dog statues, the temizuya purification basin, and stone steps. These artifacts provide one of the most complete surviving examples of Japanese colonial shrine infrastructure in Taiwan. The park was restored to its original name "Chiayi Park" in 1996, acknowledging its Japanese-era heritage.