Kishuan Literary Forest

"Kishuan" was first built in 1917, originally a Japanese-style restaurant (ryotei) operated by the Hiramatsu family. Due to its proximity to the Xindian River and pleasant scenery, it became a focal point for the residents of the city's southern district. "Kishu" is a place name, referring to the "Kishu Domain" during Japan's Edo period, roughly corresponding to present-day Wakayama Prefecture. The Hiramatsu family named the establishment "Kishu" to commemorate their distant homeland in Japan. Kishuan initially started as a two-story wooden restaurant with a thatched roof, known as the Main Hall. As the business prospered, Hiramatsu Tokumatsu rebuilt the Main Hall into a three-story building between 1927 and 1928, and also added a detached house (Hana-re) and an annex. During the Pacific War, it even served as a residence for "Kamikaze Special Attack Units" on the eve of their suicide missions. In the 1950s, after the war, Kishuan was converted into housing for civil servants' dependents. Novelist Wang Wen-hsing once lived here, and parts of his novel "Family Catastrophe" (Jiabian) are set in this location. In 1996 and 1998, two major fires completely destroyed Kishuan's Main Hall and annex, leaving only the "Hana-re" (detached house), which had a leaking roof and damaged beams (now a surviving historical monument). Starting in late 2002, through the combined efforts of the NTU Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, the "Tong'an Cultural Forest Promotion Association," and later the "Southern City Riverside Cultural Association," what began as a simple mission to protect old trees evolved into a connection with Kishuan and its surrounding rich literary heritage. In 2004, the Taipei City Government designated "Kishuan" as a municipal historical monument. In 2011, a new building was established next to the historical monument. Under the guidance of the Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs, a literary team, the Taiwan Literary Development Foundation, was entrusted with its operation. Named "Kishuan Literary Forest," it hosts literary exhibitions, performances, and promotional activities. In 2013, the Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs began the restoration project for the Kishuan historical monument, which lasted over a year. On May 25, 2014, the "Kishuan" historical monument officially reopened. The restored "Kishuan historical monument" retains the original layout of the detached house (Hana-re) as a restaurant, with five interior rooms each being twelve tatami mats in size, representing a rare type of Japanese architecture in Taiwan. The park currently includes a separate three-story main building, complementing the historical monument. As Taipei's first venue named after "literature," Kishuan collaborates with "Wenshun" magazine, which conducts the most thorough research on contemporary Taiwanese literature, and the Taiwan Literary Data and Service Center, which has long collected and organized data on Taiwanese literature and writers. Building on this rich foundation, it not only communicates and showcases the trajectory and context of Taiwanese/Taipei literary history through the power of text but also through various artistic and cultural forms, and even diverse creative approaches. To date, it has hosted over six thousand cultural and artistic events, becoming not only a literary hub in Taipei but also continuously creating a beautiful literary landscape for the southern city district.