踏溯台南

踏溯台南

文學院 通識教育課程

Exploring Old Yuejin Harbor Area

Route Introduction

 

 

│Octangular Building of YanShui│ 

 

   Completed in 1847, the rich Yanshui trader in sugar industry Ye, Kaihong and his eldest son Ye, Ruixi and others hired artisans from China to build the building and it took ten years to complete. At first it was a three-partitioned house that used as the office of Ye, Liancheng. In 1895, Japan's Prince Hushiminomiya Sadanarushinnō  came to Taiwan, the Octagonal Building was used as the Prince's residence and commanding post. In 1942, the Japanese government planned to rename the Octagonal Building as " Hushiminomiya Sadanarushinnō memorial hall” and erected a stone monument in the courthouse saying  " Hushiminomiya Sadanarushinnō’s Royal Relics Yanshui Harbor Royal Camp", so the descendants of the Ye family moved away. After 1945, the Japanese government left Taiwan and returned the Octagonal Building to Ye's family.  

   Ye’s mansion sits in the west and faces the east, a three-partitioned with a tea room on the north side and a garden in the back of the house. Today, the first and second partitions have been dismantled. The first partition was called into the original is commonly known as storefront building with two stories called “a story and a half”. The second partition is a rectangular Minnan-styled building with three open rooms, with a flower hall dedicated to the ancestors. The third partition is the existing Yansui Octagonal Building, with wooden structure made of Fuzhou fir. There is a chrysanthemum ornament with 18 petals on the door frame of the back door, a symbol of the Japanese royal family. 

   The Octagonal Building has been an important historical landmark of Yanshui since the day it was completed.  In Qing dynasty, the Ye family used this place as the transfer station of their brown sugar business.  During Japanese rule, it was used as the residence and command post of Hushiminomiya Sadanarushinnō, which is now the cultural assets of Yanshui.  It has witnessed the historical graces of industry, officials and people, as well as culture in Yanshui.

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