Geumsan Mountain, Namhae

Geumsan Mountain, Namhae, is a mountain formed where the Jirisan mountain range extends southward. It was originally called Bogwangsan after the great master Wonhyo built a temple named Bogwangsa here, but it is said that after King Taejo Yi Seong-gye held a hundred-day prayer here and subsequently ascended the throne, he renamed it Geumsan, using the character for brocade, geum (錦), to mean wrapping the mountain in eternal, imperishable silk in gratitude. In the Yeongnam region, Geumsan vied for supremacy with Gayasan Mountain in Hapcheon and Bangjangsan (Jirisan Mountain), and was even compared with Nanyue, the Southern Peak of China; being a mysterious and famous mountain rising from the sea, it was also called 'Little Geumgangsan' or 'Little Bongnaesan Mountain'. The reason Geumsan came to be praised as a great mountain, earning the name Little Bongnaesan, seems to be that, standing as a rocky peak looking out once again over distant islands and sea from within an already remote island in the southern sea, it gives visitors a mysterious sense of having left the mundane world behind. Although Geumsan is the only mountain of substantial granite mass in the Dadohae Archipelago, it has strong characteristics of an earthen mountain and supports the largest community of deciduous trees along the south coast. In autumn it looks almost like a many-coloured embroidered screen, and the extensive deciduous forest, in harmony with oddly-shaped granite rocks, produces an outstanding natural landscape. It is also said that eminent Silla monks such as Wonhyo, Uisang and the layman Yunpil practised austerities here, and the mountain is full of mysterious legends, including the tale of Seobul, who is said to have passed through here while searching for the elixir of immortality for Qin Shi Huang of China — commemorated in the rock called Seobulgwachaam ('the rock where Seobul passed') — and legends associated with Noinseong (老人星), also called Suseong (壽星), a star said to govern human lifespan, visible only around the spring and autumn equinoxes. It is also a scenic site of great symbolic significance, home to Boriam Hermitage, one of the nation's three great prayer sites.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Namhae, Gyeongnam

Designation

Scenic Site · 명승