Rinzai Gokoku Zen Temple (Linji Huguo Chan Temple)

Rinzai Gokoku Zen Temple (臨濟護國禪寺), formally known as Chin'nanzan Gokoku-ji (鎮南山護國禪寺), is the largest surviving Japanese Buddhist temple from the colonial period in Taiwan. Located at the foot of Yuanshan in Taipei's Zhongshan District, near the site of the former Taiwan Grand Shrine, the temple was established by order of Governor-General Kodama Gentaro in 1900. Kodama, himself a supporter of the Rinzai sect, backed the monk Umeyama Genshū (梅山玄秀, also known as Tokuan Genshū), who had come to Taiwan in 1899, as founding abbot.

Construction began in 1900 with the framework erected by 1910, and the main hall was completed in November 1911. The consecration ceremony took place on June 20, 1912, with the enshrinement of a Sakyamuni Buddha statue. The temple's name — literally "Pacifying the South Mountain, Nation-Protecting Zen Temple" — reflected its dual purpose as both a religious institution and an instrument of Japanese imperial ideology. During the colonial period, it served as the headquarters (大本山) of the Rinzai Zen Myoshinji school in Taiwan and played a central role in wartime Buddhist mobilization, conducting prayers and ceremonies for the protection and victory of the Japanese Empire.

The temple's main hall (大雄寶殿) is an architectural masterpiece featuring a double-eaved, hip-and-gable roof (重檐歇山頂) in a style influenced by Southern and Northern Dynasties Chinese Buddhist architecture, interpreted through Japanese temple-building traditions. The roof features distinctive onigawara (鬼瓦) demon-face tiles. It is now regarded as the largest surviving Japanese-period wooden Buddhist main hall in Taiwan — the other two comparable temples in Taipei (Shandao Temple and Donghe Zen Temple) having been demolished or radically altered.

After Japan's surrender in 1945, the temple fell on difficult times. The compound was occupied by Republic of China Air Force anti-aircraft units, who stationed troops and military dependents throughout the grounds and installed anti-aircraft guns behind the main hall. Religious activities were suspended for years. In subsequent decades, the temple faced repeated threats from urban development, including street-widening projects and MRT construction, which led to the remarkable decision in 1984 to physically relocate the main hall northward and rotate it 90 degrees from its original south-facing orientation to an east-facing one.

Despite these upheavals, the temple has survived as a testament to Japanese colonial religious architecture in Taiwan. A city-supported restoration of the main hall was completed in August 2008. Today, the main hall and the Shanmen gate are designated as Taipei municipal historic monuments, and the temple continues to function as an active Zen Buddhist center, offering Sunday morning walking meditation sessions. It stands as one of Taiwan's most important tangible links to the Japanese colonial era and wartime Buddhist culture.