Buseongsa Temple

This is a shrine that enshrines the portrait of Choe Chi-won (857– ), a scholar and writer of the late Silla period, and holds memorial rites for him. In the 8th year of King Gyeongmun (868), Choe Chi-won went to study in Tang China at the young age of twelve, passed the state examination at eighteen, and spent two years wandering Luoyang absorbed in writing poetry. While in China he personally witnessed events such as the Huang Chao Rebellion, and on returning home he sought, with great ambition, to put into practice in the already crumbling society of Silla the statecraft he had learned in Tang. However, as a holder of yukdupum rank (the sixth of Silla's head-rank statuses) within an aristocratic society centred on the jingol ('true-bone') rank, Choe Chi-won felt the limits of the status system and sought posts outside the capital. He served as prefect (taesu) of Daesan-gun (present-day Taein, Jeollabuk-do), Cheollyeong-gun (present-day Hamyang, Gyeongsangnam-do) and Buseong-gun (present-day Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do), and submitted his Ten Articles on Urgent State Affairs to Queen Jinseong in an attempt to resolve the contradictions of the society of his time. He is regarded as one of the leading intellectuals of the transitional period from the late Silla to the early Goryeo dynasty. During the reign of King Seonjo of Joseon, Confucian scholars who revered his memory enshrined his portrait and built a shrine named 'Dochungsa.' It was damaged in the time of Heungseon Daewongun, refurbished in 1907, the first year of Emperor Sunjong, and in 1913 the Seosan county magistrate renamed it 'Buseongsa,' after the district where Choe Chi-won had served as prefect, and moved it to its present site. The building measures three kan (bays) across the front and two kan on the side, with a hipped-and-gabled roof shaped like the Chinese character for eight (八) when viewed from the side. It has accompanying structures including an outer three-bay gate, an inner three-bay gate, and east and west study halls, and displays a plaque reading 'Gwaseon-gak,' written in Choe Chi-won's own hand.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seosan, Chungnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료