Donghwasa

Quick facts

Address

1 Palgongsan-ro 237-gil, Dong-gu, Daegu

About this place

Donghwasa stands on Palgongsan in Dong-gu, Daegu, founded by the monk Simji, according to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. Three accounts of that founding disagree. A record of 1727 says the temple was raised as Yugasa in 493 and rebuilt by Simji in 832 under the name Donghwasa; the temple’s own chronicle says the name was changed because paulownia flowers bloomed all around it. Under Goryeo it belonged to the Beopsang school.

Origin and history

The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture describes Donghwasa as a temple founded by Simji on Palgongsan in Dong-gu, Daegu.

Three accounts of the founding appear side by side. One, from the Samguk Yusa tradition, has Simji obtain a divining tablet of Buddha-relic bone and throw it to settle where the temple would stand. A record of 1727 says it was built as Yugasa in 493, in the fifteenth year of King Soji, and rebuilt by Simji in 832. The temple’s own chronicle says that paulownia flowers bloomed all around it at that time, and so it was renamed Donghwasa.

Under Goryeo it was a Beopsang-school temple, and under Japanese rule it was named one of the thirty head temples.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A name from paulownia in flower

  The temple’s chronicle says paulownia bloomed all around it, and so it was renamed Donghwasa.

  folk tradition

• Origin

  Records that disagree

  One account has Simji throw a divining tablet to settle the site; a record of 1727 has a temple of 493 rebuilt in 832.

  documented history

• Origin

  Beopsang school, and a head temple

  Under Goryeo it belonged to the Beopsang school; under Japanese rule it was one of the thirty head temples.

  documented history

There is one thing the state record does not set down about this temple: what people come here to ask for. The founding, the rebuilding, the school and the head-temple designation are all there; the petition is not. So this page carries no category of prayer.

What remains instead is the name. The temple’s chronicle says that when it was rebuilt, paulownia bloomed all around it, and so it was called Donghwasa. The records disagree about the date of the founding; on where the name came from, they run in one line.

One note. Gatbawi, the exam-prayer site Palgongsan is best known for, sits on a different peak of the same mountain. It is not this temple’s story.

Related guides

• How to visit a Korean templeHands together and hands folded, how the bows work, and what to do at the threshold of a hall. Starting with what is different from visiting a Japanese shrine.
• The small hall behind the main one — sansingak and samseonggakUphill from the main hall of a Korean temple stands a smaller one, and inside it an old man with a tiger. This is where the indigenous religion sits, inside the Buddhist institution.
• Templestay — a night at a templeA programme that puts you inside a temple’s own timetable for a day or two. What you do, which type to book, and what to be ready for.
• Prayer sites and the one wishThe three great Gwaneum sites, the five relic halls, and the crowds before the entrance exam. Where the saying about one wish comes from, and where the record stops.

Sources

1. 팔공산 동화사(八公山 桐華寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 — Academy of Korean Studies (accessed 2026-08-12)