Bukjijangsa, Palgongsan

Temple · Daegu

Researched and translated with AI assistance. Every claim is linked to its source, but errors get through, so check the official site for opening times, fees and closures.About

In short

A temple where a building’s true name lay in its own ridge-beam record for more than two hundred and fifty years before a repair uncovered it.

The Jijangjeon hall of Bukjijangsa on Palgongsan, Daegu. — Kwang-Deok, Jang / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Quick facts

Address: 243 Dojang-gil, Dong-gu, Daegu

About this place

Bukjijangsa stands in Dong-gu, Daegu, and is handed down as founded in 485 by the monk Geukdal, in the seventh year of King Soji of Silla. The main hall that had stood on the east of the precinct burned at some past date, so the building that had been the Geungnakjeon was used as the main hall until recently. When it was dismantled for repair, in work completed in 2011, a record came to light showing that it had been raised in 1761 as the Jijangjeon, and the building’s name was changed accordingly. It is taken to have been built between the end of the seventeenth and the start of the eighteenth century. The Jijangjeon of Bukjijangsa is designated a Treasure.

Origin and history

Bukjijangsa is handed down as founded in 485 by the monk Geukdal, in the seventh year of King Soji of Silla.

The main hall that had stood on the east of the precinct burned at some past date, so the building that had been the Geungnakjeon was used as the main hall until recently. It is taken to have been built between the end of the seventeenth and the start of the eighteenth century.

When the building was dismantled for repair, in work completed in 2011, a record came to light showing that it had been raised in 1761 as the Jijangjeon, and its name was changed accordingly.

The Jijangjeon of Bukjijangsa is designated a Treasure.

What it is locally associated with

Origin
A name found in the ridge-beam record
Dismantling completed in 2011 produced a record of the building being raised in 1761 as the Jijangjeon, and its name was changed accordingly.
documented history
Origin
A burned hall and its stand-in
The main hall on the east of the precinct burned at some past date, and the building that had been the Geungnakjeon served as the main hall until recently.
documented history
What people do here
A name paired with Namjijangsa
Namjijangsa in Dalseong-gun came to be called south because it stands opposite this temple on Palgongsan.
documented history

What changed at this temple was not a building but a name. After the main hall burned, the Geungnakjeon was called the main hall and used as one, until the dismantling completed in 2011 produced a record of its being raised in 1761 as the Jijangjeon. The name was returned to that. The building had been carrying its own name in its roof for more than two hundred and fifty years.

Daegu’s temples keep returning to things concealed and then revealed. Eunjeoksa on Apsan took its name from a cave where Wang Geon hid three days; a king’s robe came out of the Avalokitesvara statue at Pagyesa; Buinsa on Palgongsan lost the Tripitaka blocks brought there for safety. Here it was a name that had been out of sight.

This temple’s name is also half of a pair. Namjijangsa in Dalseong-gun came to be called south because it stands opposite this one on Palgongsan. One being north makes the other south; the two names need each other.

The founding is a tradition: the monk Geukdal, in 485.

Claims and evidence levels 2

A repair completed in 2011 uncovered a record showing the hall was raised in 1761 as the Jijangjeon, and its name was changed to match. documented history
The hall is designated a Treasure and is taken to date from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. documented history

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