Pyeongchang-dong Bohyeon Mountain Spirit Shrine

A sansin-gak is a shrine dedicated to the sansin, the mountain spirit of Korea's indigenous folk belief, and functions to protect villages and temples. Located at the foot of Bohyeonbong Peak on Samgaksan Mountain, this shrine is a "male mountain spirit shrine" (namsansin-gak); it originally stood together with a "female mountain spirit shrine" (yeosansin-gak) and the sacred tree of the Bugundang shrine, but the buildings of the female shrine and the Bugundang have not survived, leaving only the Bohyeon Mountain Spirit Shrine and the Bugundang sacred tree (Seoul Metropolitan Government Protected Tree No. 65). The building measures one kan (bay) on both its front and side, and is topped with a matbae roof, a gabled roof whose outline, seen from the side, resembles the Chinese character 人 (person). Hanging on the interior front wall is a sansindo (mountain spirit painting) depicting an old man riding a tiger, known as the "Girho Noinsang" (Image of an Old Man Riding a Tiger). The date of construction is uncertain: a bell on the altar inside the shrine is inscribed with "Jeongyu-nyeon" (a Jeongyu year in the sexagenary cycle), but it is not clear whether this corresponds to 1957, 1897, or an even earlier year. The dongje, the communal ritual praying for the peace of the village, is held every year on the first day of the third lunar month by the village elders in a Confucian-style ceremony, and the offerings were distributed to each household. The mountain spirit painting enshrined inside holds valuable significance as folk material reflecting Korea's ancient concept of the mountain spirit, and the shrine offers a fine example of the successful combination of the tradition of mountain worship, which venerates the mountain spirit, with the tradition of the village communal ritual.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jongno-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Folklore Heritage · 시도민속문화유산