Yeongam Hermitage Lion Temple Wooden Pagoda Site

This is the site of a multi-storey wooden pagoda within the grounds of a temple called Sajasa. The temple site stands on Sajabong Peak of Wolchulsan Mountain; it had long been known as Cheonhwangsa Temple, but excavation uncovered an inscription reading 'Sajasa', revealing its original name. Roof tiles dating from the late Unified Silla period were found at the pagoda site, suggesting that Sajasa was founded at that time. The foundation platform of the pagoda is almost square, each side measuring 10.5 to 10.8 m. The south and west sides were built up with long dressed stones and broken stones, forming a rectangular cross-section. The foundation stones are neatly exposed, four along each side, with only the one at the south-west corner missing. The distance between adjacent foundation stones is about 170 cm, and the distance between the corner stones on each side is about 5.2 m, again forming a square, showing that the pagoda had three bays on both its front and side faces. Between the north-east corner stone and the edge of the platform lies a stone believed to have supported a hwalju, a prop placed beneath the corner of the eaves. At the centre of the pagoda, where the simcho — the central foundation stone set beneath the pagoda's core pillar — once stood, there is a gamyo, a symbolic burial pit; the simcho stone itself is no longer visible, but scattered fragments of broken stone remain, suggesting that a simcho stone and a sarira reliquary, a container for the Buddha's relics, were once installed there. To the north of the stairway stones there was a stone with a square sarira cavity, thought to have lain directly beneath the simcho stone. About 28.2 m from the western platform, where the stairway stands, there is a building site thought to have been the main worship hall. Artefacts excavated from the pagoda site include fragments of roof tiles, celadon sherds, iron nails, and fragments of bronze flame-pattern ornaments. Judging from the excavated artefacts, the pagoda is thought to have been built around the eleventh century, in the early Goryeo period, and with its platform and foundation stones almost completely preserved, it provides valuable material for the study of wooden pagodas in Korea.

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Where it is

Region

Yeongam, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물