Imsil Ido-ri Maitreya Buddha Statue

Through a 2016 academic research project on Buddhist heritage sites in Imsil County, it was established that the Ido-ri Maitreya Buddha statue wears a robe covering both shoulders with a V-shaped collar resembling a durumagi overcoat, and that the pendant ornaments on the centre of the chest and on the back of the standing stone Buddha were influenced by the ornaments decorating stone figures of civil officials of the Joseon period. There is no inscription on the stone Buddha, and the pedestal supporting the Maitreya is a lotus pedestal carved with a lotus design. On the basis of this survey, the research team concluded that the statue is a 16th-century stone Buddha that retains traditions of 15th-century Buddhist sculpture. The shelter housing the Ido-ri Maitreya statue was built in 1996 as a single-bay structure. The enshrined stone Buddha stands 2.3 m tall, with a pedestal 29 cm high, a head 72 cm high and 61 cm wide, knees 103 cm wide, and a knee height of 50 cm. According to a plaque inside the shelter, Bak Seong-gwon and his wife made a vow and prepared a three-bay room to protect the Ido-ri Maitreya statue, in the imsul year, 1922. The plaque states that the stone Buddha stood "east of Unsu town, south of Siksan." Siksan is the old name for what is today called Sup-jeongi, or Sujeong. That is, because the rugged terrain of Godeoksan Mountain in Seongsu-myeon, east of the town, caused frequent fires, trees were planted to block the view of the mountain and so prevent disaster, creating the grove called Sup-jeongi, after which the village came to be named Sujeong. A temple came to be built here, it is said, because a monk of great spiritual attainment, passing through, saw that the forest was fine and that the village lay between the vein of the mountain behind and the stream flowing in front, and so built a temple here in order to awaken people to enlightenment. The Imsil-gunji, the county gazetteer of 1924, likewise records that trees were planted at the town's water-mouth, making the forest lush, and that the place was named Jogaeseom — a name that corresponds with "south of Siksan" as recorded on the shelter's plaque.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Imsil, Jeonbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산