Trat Cau Temple, Trat Cau Village, Thuong Tin Commune, Hanoi City

The Trat Cau Temple complex is in Trat Cau Village, Tien Phong Commune, Thuong Tin District, Hanoi City. Trat Cau Temple worships Lord “Cau Mang Dai Vuong”. According to legend, he is a deity of the riverine region, associated with the cultural life of agricultural residents. This is based on the temple’s genealogical record and 12 imperial edicts, together with the system of horizontal plaques and couplets preserved at the temple. According to the ancient story about the deity Cau Mang written in “Viet Dien U Linh”, he appeared around the 14th century, during the Tran dynasty.

“According to the Bao Cuc story: Nguyen Quan was the deity of the realm of Nam. In the past, when King Ly Thanh Ton went to attack Champa (1069), upon reaching Hoan Gate, a great storm suddenly arose, waves surged violently, and the royal boat tossed dangerously. As the king sat in alarm, he suddenly saw a young woman about 20 years old, with a face as fresh as peach blossom and eyebrows as delicate as willow leaves, wearing a white shirt and blue trousers. She came and said to the king: ‘I am a “spirit” of the realm of Nam, long incarnated in a tree in the land of clouds and waters, waiting for the time and opportunity. Today I meet Your Majesty, truly fulfilling my life’s wish. On this expedition, please strive for a swift and complete victory; although I am a willow deity, I also ask to lend my strength. On the day of triumphant return, I ask to wait here to pay my respects.’ Having said this, she vanished. The king awoke and spoke with his courtiers. A monk-official named Hue Lam reported: ‘The deity said she was incarnated in a tree in the land of clouds and waters; now please send someone to find the miraculous tree.’ The king then sent envoys to search everywhere along the banks and beaches, and they found a piece of wood very much like a human figure, whose color and proportions resembled the person seen in the dream. The king then bestowed the title Hau Tho Lady and ordered it placed on a table and kept in the royal boat. At that time the wind calmed, the waves were gentle, and the boat traveled very smoothly. Reaching Champa, they fought as if aided by a deity, and our army won a great victory. On the day of triumphant return, when the king’s boat reached the old landing and stopped, the king ordered a temple built there, and immediately wind and rain arose violently again. Hue Lam reported: ‘Please, Your Majesty, allow the deity to be escorted back to be worshiped in the capital.’ The king agreed, and the wind and rain immediately cleared. Upon reaching the capital, the king ordered land selected for a temple in An Lang Village; the temple was very sacred, and anyone who mocked it met misfortune. In the reign of King Ly Anh Tong, there was a great drought, and the courtiers asked to build an altar at Nam Giao to sacrifice to Heaven and honor Nguyen Quan as the deity in charge, with the Cau Mang divine general responsible for rain.’ The king was pleased and discussed: the Hau Tac rite would be paired with Heaven, Hau Tho paired with Earth, and an altar built at Nam Giao to pray for rain; indeed, a heavy rain came.

The king issued an order: “Under Lady Hau Tho there is the Cau Mang divine general who governs spring. From now on, whenever spring rites are held, a clay buffalo must be placed beneath the temple.”

In the first year of Trung Hung, the title “Hau Tho Than Dia Ky Nguyen Quan” was conferred. In the fourth year, two characters, “Nguyen Trung”, were added. In the 21st year of Hung Long, four characters, “Ung Thien Hoa Duc”, were added. The genealogical record notes the Quang Hung era (1578–1598), when there was a great drought and no rain for three months. King Le lay awake at night worrying, fasted and purified himself, and left the palace to sacrifice to Heaven and Earth and pray for rain... The king built an altar at Dong Giao to pray for rain, and spiritual response came. That year the harvest was abundant. The king then issued an edict conferring the title “Hoang Hoa Thuong Si Cau Mang Thanh Hoang Thien Vuong” and directed it to more than 70 places of worship, including Trat Cau Village.

Thus, the deity Cau Mang worshiped at Trat Cau Temple is a mythological figure found in one of our country’s oldest collections of ancient tales, appearing in the Tran dynasty (14th century) and was compiled in “Viet Dien U Linh” to glorify this deity, who has sacred spiritual significance for the Vietnamese people and their wet-rice farming.

Trat Cau Temple is located on land in the middle of the village; in front is the Cua Den field bordering Ngoc Dong Village, and on the left, right, and rear sides are residential areas. Thus the temple has a firm and open position. The monument grounds are quite wide, and the frontage has a semicircular pond. In the past the pond was like a half-moon, with banks curved like a sickle; it has recently been remodeled into a trapezoid with stone embankments around it and a low wall separating the pond from the garden. Next is a scroll-shaped screen guarding the area in front of the temple gate, meaning to block evil things from rushing directly into the place of worship. On both sides of the scroll are tall lantern pillars, with a pair of kneeling nghe creatures on top. In the middle is the scroll screen: on the outer face is a relief of the lord of the forest (tiger), and on the inner face is a relief of Long Hi Thuy, with carp leaping along the water flow (the motif of Long Hi Thuy, carp leaping over the Dragon Gate). Beside the screen is an ancient mango tree whose trunk two people cannot embrace, estimated at over 300 years old, and a flower bed with a rockery.

The Trat Cau Temple complex has many architectural works, including: two rows of buildings, Ta Vu and Huu Vu, located on the two wings outside the temple courtyard; Dai Bai; the rear hall; in addition, there is a worship room also called Ngoai Temple and an entrance gate reached by the rear path.

Ta Vu and Huu Vu houses: On the two sides of the temple, facing each other and identical in size and architecture. They are small three-bay houses, 460 cm wide and 700 cm long, divided into three bays, with brick walls around them, gabled ends with arm-shaped supports, lantern pillars, on top of each pillar four phoenix birds shaped like lotus flowers, lantern boxes decorated with the four sacred creatures, rectangular roof joints, and two gable roofs covered with ri tiles. The house has four roof trusses built in the keo cau qua giang style. The qua giang, cau dau, tru chon, keo cau, longitudinal beams, and purlins are all made of wood, smoothly planed and tightly fitted, joined by mortises according to traditional architecture.

Dai Bai Hall: This is the main architectural work of the monument, facing southeast to receive the early sunlight and fresh wind of heaven and earth. The Dai Bai floor is not high, with only one step. The plan is rectangular, 900 cm wide and 1700 cm long, with a brick floor. On this plan is an ancient architectural work built long ago. According to tradition, the temple has a construction history dating from the first year of Sung Khang (1566); in 1577 it was repaired while the temple was still on land near Dong Rieu mound. In the 45th year of Canh Hung (1784), the temple was moved to its present location near Chua Hamlet. The Dai Bai Hall was repaired at the beginning of the Nguyen dynasty, in the 12th year of Gia Long (1813). The Dai Bai has a boat-like form with four curved dao roofs, including front and rear roofs and two vi ruoi roofs on the gable ends. The roof is covered with thin tile like dragon scales, with curved upright ridges, and a round moon face emitting many rays. The ridge-end ornaments are molded as Kamara figures with mouths biting the roof ridge. The dao ends are made from curved roof-leaf tips soaring like the bow of a boat, molded in the form of a transformed dragon, like a dragon-boat prow. Inside the Dai Bai are two rows of round columns, six columns per row. The round columns have a circumference of 90 cm, rest on stone bases below, and are slotted at the top to receive the cau dau. In addition, there are rows of columns around the four sides, totaling 20 square-built columns (30 cm x 30 cm).

The house has five bays and two side wings, corresponding to six main axial trusses and two corner trusses. The six main trusses are made in the “chong ruong con nhi” form. The first short chong rests on the longer second ruong, with thin dau dep at both ends. The upper truss is placed on the back of the cau dau. The body of the cau dau is slender and tapered. Both ends of the cau dau are fish-tail jointed into the mouths at the tops of the main columns. Below is the lower truss system, also made in the chong ruong con nhi form, placed on the back of the xa nach. The two corner trusses are also made in the chong ruong con nhi form, while the tops of the hidden columns have corner braces running straight down to the dao corners. The ruong truss system is placed on the backs of the longitudinal beams. The ruong and corner braces are made of round wood, smoothly planed and edged with molding. Throughout the wooden architecture, fish-tail mortises are used, with smooth planing, tight fitting, and simple piping and molding with leaf overlays; the carving art is concentrated only in the ritual objects.

Rear Hall: Seen in the overall plan, the Dai Bai and the rear hall form a mallet-handle shape (also called the ding 丁 character plan). In fact, these two buildings form a single structural unit. The Dai Bai is arranged horizontally and extends as a rectangle, while the rear hall runs lengthwise toward the back like the handle of a mallet. The rear hall is 450 cm wide and 1100 cm long, clearly divided into three parts called the three tiers of the rear hall’s forbidden doors. Corresponding to the three door tiers are four axial trusses, built in the chong ruong con nhi style, like the truss architecture outside in the Dai Bai. The wooden column system has four rows, each with four round columns with a circumference of 80 cm. Each row of columns has wooden boarding and doorways, creating partitions between the successive parts of the forbidden chamber from the outside in. The boarding system has silk-patterned panels and folding doors. At the end of the rear hall is the altar with a shrine, dragon throne, and spirit tablet worshiping the village tutelary deity.

Ngoai Temple: This is a small temple behind the rear hall, where the female deity is worshiped. With a modest one-bay area of about 24 m2, rectangular in plan, it has a keo cau qua giang truss and is roofed with ri tiles. Inside there is an altar including an incense table, shrine, throne, spirit tablet, and a system of horizontal plaques and couplets.

Temple Gate: Coming from the rear, it lies close to the axial road of Trat Cau Village leading to Ngoc Dong. This is an architectural work restored in recent times. The three-entrance gate has three doorways: the main door and two side doors; the roof above is made in two tiers (yin – yang) - eight curved dao roofs (bagua). The upper tier is light and represents yang; the lower tier is broad and heavy and represents yin. The roof system is harmonious, separated by a goose-neck section; in the center, behind balustrade bars, is a horizontal plaque inscribed with three characters, “Hung Linh Tu”. On the roof ridge is a moon face with many flames, and the ridge ornaments and roof corners are decorated with dragons in the traditional style.

According to the monument ranking dossier, Trat Cau Temple currently preserves many valuable artifacts, specifically:

- A genealogical record (Ngoc pha) about the deity “Cau Mang Dai Vuong” and 12 imperial edicts from the Le and Nguyen dynasties;

- 01 palanquin with a luyen-style canopy; the main pole is 360 cm long, the cross pole 230 cm long, carved with dragon heads with hair like flame spikes; the luyen canopy has three tiers of curved doors, vertical columns decorated with many layers of dragon-phoenix patterns... the dragon has a brush-tail, round nose, bat ears, and especially hair standing straight like flames; this is a characteristic artistic pattern of the Le Trung Hung period. It can be said that this palanquin is a rare ancient artifact of the 17th century.

- A pair of Le dynasty cranes from the 17th century, 250 cm high, with slender bodies covered with flame-like spikes, long beaks, three flame-like tufts on the neck, and slender tall bodies standing on golden turtles.

- 26 pairs of couplets of various types, with carving art from the Nguyen dynasty and recent years.

- 03 Thanh Dynasty white-glazed blue-and-white jars, 1 white-glazed blue-and-white incense bowl with a dragon, Later Le period.

- Le Dynasty platform, 175 cm long, 132 cm wide, and 38 cm high. The ancient platform is decorated on all four sides with two nghê creatures facing the moon and three straight spear-shaped rays. The nghê figures have gentle eyes and bat ears in a spiritual downward-facing pose. This platform is a rare 17th-century antique preserved at Trat Cau Temple.

- 03 incense tables with Nguyen Dynasty carving art; these incense tables mostly feature tiger tally, phoenix, and dragon motifs; dragon playing with water, horse...

- 05 sets of carved Nguyen Dynasty ceremonial door curtains featuring themes (four sacred creatures, four noble plants...).

- 01 rectangular scroll carved with dragons and phoenixes, red-lacquered background with gold leaf, Nguyen Dynasty carving art.

- 07 horizontal plaques with Nguyen Dynasty carving art.

- 02 đẳng (altar stands), Nguyen Dynasty carving art.

- 02 ceremonial parasols made of fabric and brocade embroidered with metallic thread.

- 02 sets of Eight Immortals, Nguyen Dynasty carving art.

- 2 signboards with Nguyen Dynasty carving art.

- 01 pair of carved wooden candlesticks, Nguyen Dynasty carving art.

- Le Dynasty gong stand, 127 cm high, horizontal bar 130. The two columns of the gong stand are made of precious wood carved with a single winding dragon, a precious 17th-century work of art.

- 01 altar shrine and ancestral tablet, Nguyen Dynasty carving art.

- 01 stone dragon carved on a sandstone slab. The dragon has a saddle-shaped body, brush-like tail, bat ears, and a small face; the slab is 107 cm long, 71 cm high, and 13 cm thick. The stone dragon work bears the artistic style of the late 17th century.

- 01 manuscript stand with Nguyen Dynasty carving art.

- 01 carved wooden ablution vessel stand, Nguyen Dynasty carving art.

- 1 set of Ngu Xa bronze ding censers, 3 bronze betel boxes, bronze incense bowls, and bronze gongs.

With outstanding historical, cultural, and artistic values, the Trat Cau Temple relic (Hung Linh Tu) was ranked as a provincial/city-level historical-cultural relic under Decision No. 18/QD-UBND dated 08/01/2002 of the Ha Tay Provincial People's Committee (now the Hanoi City People's Committee).