The History of Tile in Hot Spring Town

Text / 康鍩錫
Picture provided / 康鍩錫、北投溫泉博物館

For many people, Beitou is known as a "hot spring town" or a "gentle town", but in fact, its local industry is much more than that. In fact, during the Japanese rule and the early post-war period, Beitou was also a major town of ceramic industry in Taiwan. The development of the ceramic industry in Beitou is also intricately related to the local hot spring industry.

Is the Birth of the Ceramic Town in Northern Taiwan Inextricably Linked to Hot Springs?

When it comes to ceramics in northern Taiwan, the first place that most people think of is Yingge. However, Beitou, where the kiln industry has been developed since the Qing dynasty, was actually the largest ceramic town in Taiwan. In fact, Yingge used to produce only traditional red clay pottery, but after the shift from red clay pottery to white ceramics, some of the white clay was sourced from the clay of the Da Fang White Powder Factory in Beitau.

In the 20th century, Matsumoto Kametaro (松本龜太郎), the founder of the hot spring hotel Song Tao Yuan (松濤園), introduced advanced Japanese ceramic making technology and established Beitou Kiln Co.. As a result, Matsumoto became not only the first founder of the Beitou hot spring hotels as well as the promoter of the Beitou Naliang Festival, but also the "Father of Beitou-yaki (北投燒)" !

Thanks to the efforts of Beitou Kiln Co. and Taiwan Kiln Co. and other enterprises and organizations, Beitou-yaki rose to fame worldwide for its precise and delicate quality, its bright white clay, and its brightly colored glaze. The main products were tableware, ceramic tiles, and refractory tiles. Until the early days of the Kuomintang, it was still highly reputable. For example, the company that produced "Beitou tiles" was "Beitou Kiln Co. Since the profit of tableware ceramics was very low and the profit of tiles was higher, tiles gradually became the main product of Beitou Kiln Co.. Built during the Japanese rule, the exterior walls of the Presidential Palace, the Judicial Yuan, Zhongshan Hall, Taipei Post Office, and the Law School of National Taiwan University can still be seen with the remnants of Beitau tiles. Unfortunately, due to the changes in time and space, the kiln industry in Beitau has gone from prosperous and flourishing to dormant.

The tile painting of "Promotion and Increase in Salary" and "Inviting Fortune to the Treasure" on the wall of Beitou Fuan Temple can be said to be a testimony to the development of the local ceramic industry in Beitou.
(Picture provided：康鍩錫)

(画像提供：北投溫泉博物館)

"Beitou Tiles" in the temple, accompanied by curling cigarettes

Despite this, the "Beitou tile" has not disappeared from Beitou, but settled in the present-day Beitou temples, witnessing the passage of time in Beitou with the company of the swirling incense. The answer is that after the war, some temple managers in northern Taiwan wanted to expand or change the structure of existing temples due to the demand of space usage. The painters who worked on the design were mostly recruited from the kiln industry in Beitou. For example, many of the painters who used to work in the famous ceramic factory "Chinese Ceramic Company" in Beitou were invited to apply their adept painting skills and techniques to paint the surface of the tiles with glazes.

It is worth mentioning that temple motifs familiar to Taiwanese, such as the "Eight Immortals", "The Story of the Twenty-Four Filial Virtues", and "Characters from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms", were rarely found in molded ceramic patterns in the past. However, the painter's gifted brushstrokes can make such delightful themes jump out on the "ceramics." In addition to historical and folklore stories, floral motifs such as peonies and plum blossoms, or birds and animals including magpies, cranes, flying phoenixes and dragons are also common. Some ceramics even have inscriptions on them, which makes people feel more connected.

Speaking of temple tiles in Beitou, we cannot help but mention the company "Ligu Enterprise Ltd." founded by Mr. Wang Zhengxiong in 1979. Prior to founding the company, Mr. Wang worked for several ceramic manufacturing companies. During this time, he learned the art of hand-painting and glazing, knowledge of tombstone decoration, and the "transfer tile" technique of printing patterns on the surface of tableware by screen printing. After he started his own business, he applied these techniques to the painting of temple tiles, leaving behind a wealth of colored ceramic works in temples in Keelung, Taipei City, and New Taipei City.

Nowadays, beautiful colored ceramic tiles of "The Eight Immortals", "The Golden Jade Full Hall", "Praying for Lucky Celebration of the Military General", "Gongye Chang Can Explain Bird Words", and "Presenting a Horse with a Robe" can be seen on the walls, the beautiful slanting stack of the wall, and ceilings of the Tao-Yuan Fude Temple in Beitou. You can find "Stories of Filial Piety", "Auspicious Dragon Defeating the Tiger", "Universal Salvasion", and "Flowers and Birds in the Landscape" on the wall and the beautiful slanting stack of the wall of the Zhen-An Temple in Beitou. At the walls and the beautiful slanting stack of the wall of the Ji-Yin Temple in Beitou, there are colorful ceramic works such as "The Longevity Wish from the Immortals", "Prosperity and Longevity", "The Battle of Eight Hammers against Lu Wen-Long", and "The Qilin", all of which were made by Ligu Enterprise Co..

The hotel donated tiles to testify the mutual dependence of the real estate industry

Interestingly, the development of the Beitou hot spring industry and Beitou ceramics were not only related to each other at the beginning of the establishment of the Beitou Kiln Co. during the Japanese rule, but also after the war. In fact, many Beitou hot spring industry operators would visit local temples and donate tiles to the temples if their business was booming after the visit. One of the most well-known examples is the colorful ceramic works such as "The Eight Immortals' Flooding of the East Sea", "Offering the Longevity from Mother Goddess", "Promotion and Increase in Salary", "Inviting Fortune to the Treasure" and "The Scattering of by the Goddess" on the main hall, the worship hall, the theater, the shrine, the ghost money burner and the ceiling of the Houfuan Temple in Beitou. The donors of these works include "Longcheng Hotel", "Beitou Hotel", "Meilajhuang Hotel", "Xinjinzhuang Hotel", "Longmen Hotel", and "Songlin Hotel". This shows that the booming hot spring hospitality industry in those years is a testament to the fact that Beitou's hot springs and ceramic industry are closely interdependent.

When you visit Beitou nowadays for sightseeing and bathing, you may also want to visit the local temples. After all, the vivid and elegantly painted tiles on the walls of the temple not only record loyalty and filial piety as well as birds and flowers, but also attest to the local stories and culture of Beitou.