Yakcheonsa Temple

Yakcheonsa was built in the 1990s and its Daejeokgwangjeon is among the largest single temple halls in East Asia - roughly thirty metres to the ceiling, four storeys of interior gallery running round the walls, with a five-metre seated Vairocana Buddha at the centre, eighty thousand small gilt-bronze Buddha figures, and a very large drum and bell. Because it is one open volume rather than a compound of small halls, the effect inside is unlike any historic Korean temple, and that is the reason to come; nothing here is old. The name refers to a spring on the site whose water was reputed medicinal. It stands among tangerine groves near the south coast, not far from Jungmun, and is free to enter. Visitors climb the internal galleries for the view down onto the Buddha, which is the photograph everyone takes.

History

The temple takes its name from a mineral spring, Doyaksaem, thought to heal. Around 1960 the monk Kim Pyeong-gon built a small thatched temple here after praying in a nearby cave, and the present temple, planned from 1981, was built from 1988 to 1996 (Wikipedia, Yakcheonsa).

The main sights

• The single great hall - thirty metres to the ceiling.
• The internal galleries - four levels running round the walls.
• The seated Vairocana - five metres at the centre.
• The wall of small Buddhas - eighty thousand gilt-bronze figures.

When to go

Any season - it is an interior. Mornings are quieter; coach tours from Jungmun arrive through the day.

Good to know

Everything is modern, and visitors hoping for an old Jeju temple will be disappointed. It is one building - an hour covers it. Free, and it is a working temple, so services take priority.

Nearby

Jusangjeolli cliffs and Jungmun are close; Seogwipo is 10 km east.

Key facts