Sanyi’s wood carvings evoke Taiwan history and culture

Not that I was leaving or anything, but I just wanted to uncover this side of Taiwan as well, where an object made out of simple wood becomes a passionate creation breathing life into its dead soul. It speaks volumes about the love of its people for its environment and about the depth of their imagination and artistic ability.

And after my visit, I am thoroughly convinced that in wood carving, fewer places can match Sanyi’s wood carver’s versatility, range and price.

Sanyi (三義), a small village in Miaoli (苗栗) County, is surrounded by more mountains than flatlands. In the mountains, camphor trees grow in abundance. For over 300 years Sanyi has been home to sculptors, it is one of the oldest known centers for camphor wood carving in Asia. At that time, the carvers preferred to sculpt objects out of gnarled twisted roots that gave a rustic touch to them, which later became popular as the aboriginal art form.

The Japanese has a special love for camphor. During their rule, in the 1920’s Sanyi saw an influx of artists and carvers who taking inspiration from the surrounding forested nature elevated the art to a greater height. In the 1940’s with the arrival of mainland sculptors, new design, new technique and new ideas were incorporated and Sanyi became a thriving wood carving station.

We park the car near the wood carving museum and walk around awhile. The waves of rolling hills on whose peaks clouds clung dearly provide a scenic interlude and we spend some time exploring and relishing the magnificent view. The museum is located on a higher plane and it is officially named as Miaoli Sculptor’s Museum.

The two elephants placed in front of the museum are carved out of trees deformed by the typhoons. This is the distinctive feature of Sanyi wood carving, told our guide. The sculptors here are more adept to produce life size animals and Buddhist figures from gigantic tree roots and oddly shaped stems and branches. They maintain the original shape, embedding designs and forms in such a manner that the object appears to be an extension of nature’s own carving.

Inside the museum, a plush modern three storied buildings covering some 1700 sq meters of space, the exhibits are spread chronologically. The first floor displays trace the origin and evolution of wood carving from the Qin dynasty to the contemporary through picture collages and multimedia presentation.

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