Suncheonhyangnimsa Temple Bronze Bell

This bell is kept in the Daeungjeon Hall of Hyangnimsa Temple in Seokhyeon-dong, Suncheon. It was made at Seonjeoksa Temple in Suncheon; when it was moved here is unknown, but the connection between Hyangnimsa and Seonjeoksa can be inferred from the record on the renovation stele of Seonamsa Temple (1703), which shows that both Hyangnimsa and Seonjeoksa were subsidiary temples of Seonamsa. On this basis it is presumed, though not certain, that the bell was moved as a result of exchanges between the monks of the two temples. In terms of style, the crown of the bell has a single dragon-shaped hanger and a hemispherical crown plate, while the body is decorated with an upper band, nipple clusters, and standing bodhisattva figures. On the front left is a tablet 21cm high bearing the eight characters "Jusang samjeonha su manse" ("May the Three Palaces of the reigning sovereign live ten thousand years"), carved in relief and arranged vertically. The dragon is carved in a rough, fierce style and does not hold a wish-fulfilling jewel in its mouth. On the upper band, eight Sanskrit seed-syllables are carved in relief within circular frames, and on the middle band four standing bodhisattva figures, each 16.3 cm wide by 17.2 cm tall, are depicted. The lower band is divided into two sections bearing an inscription relating to the bell's manufacture, carved in relief. The inscription reads, in translation: donated for the Buddhist hall; fourth month, byeongin year, the eleventh year of the Qianlong era (1746); the medium bell of Seonjeoksa Temple, Suncheon, weight 150 geun. Chief donors: Kim Un-hak, Yang Seok-man. Temple manager: Ikmyeon. Deacon: Chulmin. Abbot at the time: Jeonghae, Unin. Temple overseers: Yuin, Beomun. Bell-caster: Kim Geum-cheol. From this inscription it can be seen that the bell was cast in 1746, the twentieth year of King Yeongjo, at Seonjeoksa Temple in Suncheon, weighs 150 geun, was donated by Kim Un-hak and Yang Seok-man, and was cast by the bell-founder Kim Geum-cheol. Dimensions (cm): total height 85, base diameter 50.5, top diameter 35, thickness 1.5. According to the Seungpyeongji (Gazetteer of Seungpyeong), Seonjeoksa was a small temple founded after the Jeongyu War of 1597, with only a handful of monks. Later sources, the Beomugo and the Junggan Seungpyeongji (Reprinted Gazetteer of Seungpyeong), record it as abandoned, suggesting that the temple lay defunct for a time in the first half of the eighteenth century and was rebuilt around the mid-eighteenth century, when the bell bearing the Qianlong eleventh-year (1746) inscription was cast for it. Seonjeoksa also appears in the Sinjeung Seungpyeongji (Newly Augmented Gazetteer of Seungpyeong, 1881), showing that it still existed at the end of the nineteenth century. It appears to have been abandoned sometime after that and remains so today; Seonjeoksa no longer exists, and its exact location is unknown.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Suncheon, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산