Talking about why he began working in this field, Lin Heng-tao says he always loved to travel, and during his high school days was also influenced by Yanagida Kunio, a Japanese scholar of folk customs, and read many books about Japanese folk customs.
說起他為何會走入研究古蹟這一行，林衡道指出，他一向喜歡旅行，中學念書時，又受到日本民俗學者柳田國男的影響，閱讀了不少日本民俗論著。