Unmunsa Temple

Unmunsa lies in a broad wooded basin under Unmunsan in Cheongdo and is the principal seminary for Buddhist nuns in the country, with several hundred women in residence - larger than Donghaksa and correspondingly more closed, since most of the compound is study and living quarters. What visitors see is the front courtyard, two Silla-period three-storey pagodas, a stone lantern, several halls, and the tree: a processional pine, roughly four hundred years old, whose branches spread almost horizontally for twenty-odd metres on props rather than growing upward. It is a natural monument, and the monastery has a long practice of pouring makgeolli diluted with water around its roots each spring, which is treated locally as feeding the tree and has drawn a certain amount of scientific curiosity about whether it helps. The setting is flat and open, unusual for a mountain temple, and the valley approach is lined with old pines.

What you actually see

• The reclining pine - branches spread horizontally on props.
• The twin Silla pagodas - three storeys each, in the courtyard.
• The open compound - flat ground rather than a slope.
• The pine approach - the walk in from the gate.

When to go

April to June and October. The makgeolli watering is a spring event. Weekday mornings are quiet - this is a seminary and the tone is subdued.

Honest expectations

Most of the compound is closed to visitors and photographing residents is not welcome. Ticketed. What is open is small and takes under an hour.

Nearby

Cheongdo's persimmon country and the Unmun dam are close; Daegu is north-west.