Geungnakbojeon Hall of Biamsa Temple, Sejong

Biamsa Temple is a branch temple of Magoksa Temple, located in present-day Jeonui-myeon, Sejong. It is said to have been founded by the Unified Silla monk State Preceptor Doseon, though several other founding traditions also exist and none is certain. However, relics excavated at the temple — the Amitabha Stele with an Inscription of the Jeon Clan Dated to the Gyeyu Year (National Treasure, estimated to have been made in 673) and the Amitabha Stele with an Inscription Dated to the Gichuk Year (Treasure, estimated to have been made in 689) — have been confirmed, and local tradition still calls Biamsa the "Ancient Temple of the Three Han", suggesting that its founding may go back to antiquity. While the floor plan of most Joseon-period dapo-style Buddhist halls — a bracket-set type with clusters both above the pillars and between them — follows a front-facing three-bay by three-bay layout, the Geungnakbojeon of Biamsa has only two bays on its sides. Two-bay-side halls are less common than the three-by-three type, but they spread rapidly after the Japanese invasions of 1592–1598 and remain the second most frequent proportion after the three-by-three form. The hall follows the same method as three-by-three halls in setting the inner pillars back and erecting a rear wall behind the Buddha image to create worship space at the front, but because one side bay has been removed, that front worship space is cramped. This shows that the two-bay-side plan of the Geungnakbojeon was a design reflecting the reduced circumstances of temple economies after the wars. At the same time, the interior retains the method of inner pillars and a rear wall, and, with only one such example surviving in each of South Chungcheong Province and Sejong, it is counted as an unusual case even regionally. The bracket sets are built up with three tiers of eave-bracket arms (chulmok) both inside and out. From the mid-Joseon period onward it generally becomes common for the number of interior tiers to exceed the exterior, and even among two-bay-side halls with a hip-and-gable roof, where interior tiers usually increase following this trend, the Geungnakbojeon keeps the interior and exterior tiers equal — a feature also seen at the Daeungjeon of Seonunsa Temple in Gochang and the Daeungjeon of Jikjisa Temple in Gimcheon. In the bracket assembly, all three sizes of bracket arm — large, medium and small — are used, with a medium arm inserted at the first tier both inside and out; the same method appears at the Daeungbojeon of Seonunsa and the Daeungjeon of Yeongguksa Temple, though it too is an uncommon technique. The forms of the salmi (carved bracket-arm tips) show a mixture of carving styles from different periods, suggesting that repairs were carried out after the hall's original construction. The arrangement of bracket arms across three or more tiers, the foliate carving at the lower end of the exterior salmi, and the lotus-bud ornament on the interior salmi are all features characteristic of dapo-style buildings from the mid-Joseon period onward. The factor with the greatest influence on the hall's timber-frame structure is its side dimension. Because a hip-and-gable roof was to be built over only two side bays, a conventional upper-frame arrangement could not easily cope, and this problem was solved by installing three cross-beams (chungnyang) in each side bay. A main girder was laid across the space between the front pillars of the central bay and the inner pillars, and three cross-beams were set at right angles to it to build up the structure. The reason for hanging three cross-beams from the main girder in this way lies in forming the oegi purlin ring: had the hall been three bays deep, this ring would have formed naturally, and most other two-bay-side halls use only a single cross-beam. But because the Geungnakbojeon's side bay is comparatively long, the extra cross-beams are thought to have been installed to help form the ring and bear the load carried by the hip rafters. The window and door openings of the Geungnakbojeon also differ from those typical of late-Joseon Buddhist halls. On the front, the opening is divided into four sections: the two central leaves are hinged double doors, while the side sections, separated by door posts, each have a low sill below a single hinged leaf — a method echoing older techniques also found at the Muryangsujeon of Buseoksa Temple and the Maengssi Haengdan house. The rear openings are of the type known as yeongssangchang, paired hinged windows with a central mullion post, a component widely used before the mid-Joseon period; it can still be seen in many sixteenth-century buildings in the Yeongnam region, such as Yaongjeong Pavilion in Yecheon and Yangjindang in Sangju, and, more rarely, in seventeenth-century and later buildings of the Hoseo region such as Dongchundang in Daejeon and Chusa House in Yesan. Both the front and rear openings were made using relatively old techniques; during repair work in 1996 they were restored to their present appearance on the basis of surviving traces such as grooves. Although these are not the original openings made at the time of construction, they were restored to their original form on clear evidence in recent times, and so present an appearance appropriate to the period when the Geungnakbojeon was built. Although historical records on Biamsa are scarce, it is a temple of long standing, with one National Treasure, two Treasures and four other designated heritage items still surviving. In the seventeenth century it was clearly an active centre of religious life in South Chungcheong Province, both through the activities of literati and through works such as the Hanging Painting of the Vulture Peak Assembly (1657) by the master painter Sin Gyeom. The Geungnakbojeon, the main hall of Biamsa, is a single-storey dapo-style hip-and-gable building three bays wide at the front and two bays deep. Two-bay-side halls are one of the types widely built after the wars of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, generally constructed from the seventeenth century onward, and the Geungnakbojeon appears to have been built as part of this trend. Its bracket sets show some mixing of pre- and post-war forms but overall are a good example of mid-seventeenth-century bracket construction. Its timber frame, in particular, shows a distinctive solution to the structural problems posed by a wide bay span over only two side bays, using three cross-beams to resolve them. For preserving so well the period characteristics and regional character of a local temple hall of the mid-seventeenth century, the Geungnakbojeon of Biamsa is judged to merit designation as a state-designated heritage item.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sejong

Designation

Treasure · 보물