Goransa

Temple · Korea

Busosan Goransa

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 rebuilt by Baekje’s descendants after the kingdom fell, named for the rare fern growing on the cliff behind it.

Goransa set against the wooded cliff of Busosan above the river. — Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Quick facts

Address: 689 Ssangbuk-ri, Buyeo-eup, Buyeo-gun, Chungcheongnam-do

About this place

Goransa stands on Busosan in Buyeo, South Chungcheong. No detailed record of its founding survives; it is variously held to have been a pavilion where Baekje kings took their leisure, or the palace’s inner Buddhist hall. Burned when Baekje fell, it is said to have been rebuilt in the Goryeo period by the kingdom’s descendants to console the palace women, and it came to be called Goransa because the rare goran fern grows on the cliff behind.

Origin and history

The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture notes that no detailed record of the founding survives, and gives two accounts: that it was a pavilion built for Baekje kings to take their leisure, or that it was the inner Buddhist hall of the palace.

Burned with the fall of Baekje, it is said to have been rebuilt in the Goryeo period by Baekje’s descendants in order to console the palace women, and given the name Goransa. It came to be so called, the encyclopedia adds, because the rare goran fern grows wild on the cliff behind it.

It was rebuilt in 1028, repaired in 1629 and 1797, and in 1900 Eunsansa was moved to the site. The present main hall and bell pavilion were built in 1931 and repaired in 1959.

What it is locally associated with

Origin
A pavilion, or an inner hall
No detailed record of the founding survives; two accounts are transmitted.
folk tradition
Origin
Named for the goran fern
It came to be called Goransa because the rare fern grows wild on the cliff behind it.
documented history
Power spot
The spring
A spring said to have been drunk from by a king. The story that drinking makes you younger is widely told and is not in the state record.
folk tradition

What people asked for here, the state record does not say. It covers what stood on the spot and what was rebuilt, and stops. That is why this page carries no petition.

There is a famous story, though. Drink from the spring beside the temple, it is said, and you grow three years younger. What the encyclopedia actually records is six words long — that there is a spring said to have been drunk from by a king — and it says nothing at all about what drinking does. The rejuvenation is something people tell, not something written down.

The three thousand palace women need the same care. What the record gives is the rebuilders’ motive: Baekje’s descendants raised the temple again to console them. It is not a sentence asserting that three thousand women existed or died.

Claims and evidence levels 4

No detailed record of the founding survives; the temple is variously held to have been a pavilion for Baekje kings or the palace’s inner Buddhist hall. folk tradition
Burned with the fall of Baekje, it is said to have been rebuilt in the Goryeo period by the kingdom’s descendants in order to console the palace women. folk tradition
It came to be called Goransa because the rare goran fern grows wild on the cliff behind it. documented history
A spring said to have been drunk from by a king stands beside the temple; the widely told belief that drinking from it makes one younger does not appear in the state record. folk tradition

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