Beitou 北投文物館

Beitou 北投文物館

Historic architecture in situ

-The Taoran House-


The Taoran House

Taoran House was established in 1935 and was the affiliated annex for welcoming and treating guests. The two rooms in the House form a special "flying geese" layout in a diagonal-lined way. Surrounded by the wooden corridors, there are Japanese rock gardens (枯山水, pronounced as "Karesansui") which is named "Huting" (in Manderin) or "Tsuboniwa" (in Japanese). The living room is set to view the beautiful gardens from the best angle; the foot bridge, flowing water and green-flourishing teahouse garden are also seen through the windows with Japanese water bowls and stone lanterns. Our guests can appreciate various blooming flowers in different seasons, and all of these elements together present the beauty of serenity and elegance.

In order to offer the effect of purifying hearts and minds, a "zigzag" curving course is adopted in the outer teahouse garden (露地, pronounced as "Tsuyuchi") of Taoran House using the manner of "one step, one footprint" to tread on the stepping stones (飛石, pronounced as "Tobiishi"). The "Tsuyuchi"(露地) was originally written as "路地" (pronounced as "Rochi"), meaning small passages. Later, it was converted into a garden style of "the garden space before entering into the teahouse" in Japanese tea ceremony (茶道, pronounced as "Sado"). Sen no Rikyu, the Japanese tea master, regarded the outer teahouse garden (露地, "Tsuyuchi") as "the path beyond the mortal world" (浮世の外道, pronounced as "Ukiyo no Gedou") that the "Tsuyuchi" is considered as the buffer area for purifying hearts and erasing social statuses and those everyday routines in this mundane world before entering into the tea house. 

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