Taitou Temple

Taitou Temple

Taitou temple is located in the northeast corner of the intersection of xingeng South Street and Longgang road in Hejin City, Shanxi Province. According to the inscriptions in the temple, the temple was rebuilt in 1468 and 1473. Judging from the inscriptions and the existing situation, Taitou temple has a large scale, magnificent architecture, reasonable layout, exquisite workmanship, solid structure and simple style, with a total area of more than 15000 square meters. Today, because its basic component is Yuan Dynasty, Taitou temple has become a national security, and because of its unique geographical location, it has become the object of attention. It is a pity that there are too few materials left for later generations to study. The only strong evidence is two stone tablets and some legends scattered among the people.

The origin of the name

Should it be called "Taitou Temple" or "Toutou Temple"?

The author thinks it should be called "Taitou Temple", because it is built on the high platform, so it is called "Taitou Temple". Such a name may be a habit of local people. For example, "jiulongtou" is named after the nine hills at the foot of Zijin Mountain. "Zhenwu Temple" is the first and largest one in the jiulongtou architectural complex. Later, due to the damage of other temples on the hills, people gradually moved the buildings on the nine hills to the well preserved Zhenwu temple. That is to say, "Jiulong" coexists in Longshou“ In fact, Zhenwu temple was only one of the nine dragon head temples built at that time. It is inferred that the term "Taitou" is true. As we all know, the old city of Hejin is located in the west of Taitou temple, and the terrain is relatively low. Up to now, people are still used to calling going to the old city and Dongguan "down to the bottom" and vice versa. If we build a temple on the high platform, wouldn't we call it "Taitou Temple"? As mentioned above, the naming of "Taitou" and "jiulongtou" should be based on the same idea.

It is said that King Hui of Wei paid homage to Jiaotai, and now called the village taitoubao (Unified annals of Ming Dynasty). The explanation of taitoubao is not the reason for the name of Taitou temple. It is obvious that "Longmen" or Hejin was not the capital of King Hui of Wei at that time. Its capital was Anyi first and then moved to Daliang (now Kaifeng, Henan). If we say that "worshiping Jiaotai" was caused by the custom of that time, that is to say, Taitou temple was named after "taitoubao" village, but there are few large temples named after the village since ancient times.

"Taitou" or "jiulongtou" should be the product of a local language habit. The one with higher terrain is in the middle or in the first place, so it is called "head". According to the inscription of rebuilding Taitou temple in miaosun, it can be seen that " The temple is named after its head, because its shape is superior, so it is called the head. It is about a mile to the east of the old city of Longmen. The height of the platform and the flat land is about Zhang, the width is 10 mu, the distance between East and West is 37 steps, and the distance between North and south is 86 steps.... ". Therefore, the "Tai" of Taitou Temple refers to the high platform, and the "tou" refers to the first position, which is called "Taitou Temple".

At this point, the question arises: should it be called "Taitou Temple" or "Toutou Temple"? Which is more accurate? A word is a thousand miles away. This confusion can be analyzed as follows: first, Chinese characters are very rich and complex, and there are many interchangeable words in ancient times, including homophonic words, which are widely used, and "Tai" and "Tai" can be equated; second, "Tai tou" is a recognized standard name, and "tou tou" is the common name of the common people, and "tou tou" also implies the place of Longmen, including everyone can "long tou" It is the people's expectation for the future. According to the inscriptions in miaosun, the two words "Tai" and "Tai" are used at the same time, which proves that people at that time didn't care whether it was "Tai tou" or "Shou tou", or they used to call "Tai tou" long ago. In any case, it's this temple. It's a popular Temple opposite to juecheng temple, which mainly worships Buddha at that time. It's also a temple that can bring them good luck. What's more, Taitou temple is located in the east of the old city of Hejin, where the sun rises and the purple air comes to the East. It can be said that Taitou temple has the meaning of beginning, importance and respect. Isn't it wonderful to call it both Taitou temple and Toutou temple? The wisdom of Hejin people can also be seen. "Stage head"? "Look up"? The author only suggests that from the perspective of modern norms, it should be named "Taitou Temple". From the perspective of people's habits, it can be used both.

Cultural value

Some people call it "Dongyue Temple", others call it "Xiyue Temple"

The appellation of Taitou Temple includes not only the confusion of "Tai" and "Tai", but also the disturbance of "Dongyue" and "Xiyue". Even the relevant texts of the government and various parties have different titles. In my opinion, first of all, there is a suspicion that the appellation of Taitou temple is not rigorous. Secondly, individual researchers do not seek in-depth exploration in some fields, but only innovate. I don't know that to be innovative in history is actually not responsible for history and future generations.

Taitou temple is called "Dongyue Temple" because there are inscriptions in the temple, which are called "the god worshipped" In the middle is Mount Tai, on the left is the goddess Temple of Houtu, and on the right is the God of Huayue... " (records of rebuilding Houtu temple in Chenghua, Ming Dynasty). It can be seen that Taitou temple is called "Mount Tai" because it is in the middle, so it is called "Dongyue Temple". Another inscription in the temple, which was set up in the ninth year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, is the stele of rebuilding Xiyue temple and regulating the ancestral halls, which also says: "the stele of rebuilding Xiyue Temple In the East, there are magistrates of cuifu, the king of France, the ancestral hall of the earth, and the descendants of guanshuai, the temple of the two kings of dragon and cattle in the West. " It can be seen that at that time, only the Xiyue temple on the right of Taitou temple was rebuilt, not the whole temple. It was also normal. In this way, it is more inappropriate to call Taitou Temple "Xiyue Temple" than "Dongyue Temple". Whether it is "Dongyue Temple" or "Xiyue Temple", or "Houtu Notre Dame Temple", it is one of the buildings in Taitou temple.

Since ancient times, all ethnic groups in China have their own customs of totem worship and mountain god worship, which even became people's code of conduct and moral standards at that time. As an imported religious culture, Buddhism was once used and respected by the rulers. In addition, Buddhism has its unique "rules" and strict requirements on people to a certain extent. Most of the Chinese people, who are active in thinking and also have a strong culture of their own nation, are more persistent in their belief in their own nation. They think that their worship is more cordial and effective, and they are not subject to many restrictions of Buddhism. People can build a temple spontaneously, and people of different ages can offer even unrelated "gods" that they think are most worthy of respect,. Therefore, there are many gods in a temple, the heaven and the earth, the mountains and the seas, all the more reflects the extraordinary thought of the Chinese nation, the world is the same, all inclusive broad mind. Therefore, Taitou temple is a comprehensive temple with Dongyue Temple as the center and other Xiyue temples and Houtu Notre Dame temple as the auxiliary. The overall temple construction should be called Taitou temple.

Construction time

There is no available data on when the Taitou temple was first built. However, the inscription in the temple says that "it was built in the Han Dynasty, flourished in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and lasted for five dynasties, song, yuan and Ming Dynasties...". It can be seen that it is too early to create and repair. Judging from the existing buildings, the basic component of the temple is yuan, and its shape is Ming Dynasty. As far as the worship of Mountain God has been concerned since ancient times, the custom of offering sacrifices to Mount Tai in Hedong described in Hedong Ji had existed as early as the Warring States period, so it was possible to build temples here in Han Dynasty.

The value of Taitou Temple

Cultural relic value: according to experts' field investigation, most of its components are from the Yuan Dynasty, which was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty, and has been listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit.

Cultural value: it is the witness of people's worship of Mountain God in Hejin, Hedong and Central Plains since ancient times, and it condenses the thousand year Chinese civilization, especially a kind of natural civilization of common people.

Practical value: Taitou temple is located in Hejin City, which is one of the top 100 cities in China. It will play an immeasurable role in cultural relic tourism and improving the city's quality after time.

If history can be restored, it is three-dimensional; history, as a form of the past, is flat to us. And the people, things and things in each period of history are an important part of this plane. Later generations can simply restore history from these people, things and things. It is hoped that the restoration and development of Taitou temple in the near future will become a part of Longmen culture, Yellow River culture and even Chinese civilization.

The story of the old man

Hejin people in their 50s and 60s all know about Taitou temple. Three or five of them are sitting on the street and at the end of the lane, talking about Taitou temple. They said: Taitou temple is in Laoxian. Earlier, Taitou temple was a grain station. Anyone who has sent food there knows.

The old town of Hejin is only called that by people in their 50s and 60s. The young people don't call the area of Taitou temple the old county. After a long time, the young people know that the area of Taitou temple that the old people said is near the intersection of xingeng street and Longgang road.

Longgang Road intersection, North and south is the new built street. There is a photo studio in the west of the street and a shop in the east of the street. There is a gap close to the shop. Standing at the gap, you can see the roof of the ancient buildings inside. Walking a few steps to an open place, looking back, you can see the incomplete ancient buildings. A person familiar with the matter pointed out that this is Taitou temple.

This is really strange. Is this the popular Taitou temple in the past? In those days, the temple fair was held on March 18. At that time, the temple fair was held on March 18 of the lunar calendar. Far away

Chinese PinYin : Tai Tou Miao