Attendant Boy Bok

This mireuk (a stone statue of the Buddhist Maitreya) stands inside a private house built on the former site of Mansusa Temple, and is said to have once guarded the interior of Jeju fortress from its eastern side. It is also known as "Jabok-sin" (the god of wealth and fortune), "Jabok-mireuk", "Mireukbul" (the Maitreya Buddha) or "Keun Eoreun" (the Great Elder). Standing 286 cm tall, with a face 161 cm long and a lower-body circumference of 662 cm, it is carved from the basalt commonly found on Jeju Island. It wears a stone hat of the same form as a dol hareubang (a traditional Jeju stone grandfather statue), and has a compassionate expression, with gentle eyebrows, eyes that look benevolently downward, a prominent nose, a softly closed mouth and large ears. Standing within the grounds of a private house, it has no fixed ritual day, but women who prayed earnestly to the mireuk and subsequently bore a son venerate it as devotedly as an ancestor. Its exact date of production is unknown, but it is presumed to date from the Goryeo period, and it offers a fine example of the fusion of Buddhism with folk belief in guarding a town and wishing for sons.

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Where it is

Region

Jeju City, Jeju

Designation

Provincial Folklore Heritage · 시도민속문화유산