Jingwansa, Bukhansan

Quick facts

Address

73 Jingwan-gil, Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul

About this place

Jingwansa stands on Bukhansan in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul. In 1011, under King Hyeonjong of Goryeo, a large temple was built on the site of Sinhyeolsa and named Jingwansa after the master Jingwan. In 1397, in the Joseon period, King Taejo established a water-and-land hall here and performed the water-and-land rite, which makes offerings to the spirits of the dead. The Jingwansa water-and-land rite was designated national intangible heritage in 2013. On 26 May 2009, during the dismantling and restoration of the Chilseonggak, a subsidiary building of the temple, a Korean flag was found inside the wall behind the altar. The Jingwansa flag is designated a Treasure.

Origin and history

In 1011, under King Hyeonjong of Goryeo, a large temple was built on the site of Sinhyeolsa and named Jingwansa after the master Jingwan.

In 1397 King Taejo established a water-and-land hall here and performed the water-and-land rite, which makes offerings to the spirits of the dead. The rite was designated national intangible heritage in 2013.

On 26 May 2009, during the dismantling and restoration of the Chilseonggak, a Korean flag was found inside the wall behind the altar. The Jingwansa flag is designated a Treasure.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  The finding of 2009

  While the Chilseonggak was being dismantled for restoration, a Korean flag was found inside the wall behind the altar; it is now a designated Treasure.

  documented history

• Origin

  Named for the master Jingwan

  In 1011 King Hyeonjong built a large temple on the site of Sinhyeolsa and named it Jingwansa after the master Jingwan.

  documented history

• What people do here

  The water-and-land rite of 1397

  King Taejo established a water-and-land hall here in 1397 and performed the rite, which was designated national intangible heritage in 2013.

  documented history

The most recent large event at this temple was a finding. On 26 May 2009, while the Chilseonggak was being dismantled for restoration, a Korean flag came out of the wall behind the altar. Something placed inside a wall emerged after most of a century, and it is now a designated Treasure.

This site holds several things concealed and later revealed. At Pagyesa in Daegu a king’s robe came out of a Buddhist image; at Bukjijangsa a building’s own name came out of a ridge-beam record in its roof. But where those were religious objects, what came out here was a national flag.

The people who built and refitted this temple were kings. Hyeonjong raised it in 1011 on the site of Sinhyeolsa and gave it the master Jingwan’s name; Taejo established the water-and-land hall in 1397 and performed the rite. Taejo is also the king who had founded Heungcheonsa two years earlier, in 1395, for his dead queen. These two Seoul temples passed through the same hands.

The water-and-land rite continues, and was designated national intangible heritage in 2013.

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. 북한산 진관사(北漢山 津寬寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)
2. 보물 서울 진관사 태극기(서울 津寬寺 太極旗) — 국가유산청 국가유산포털 (accessed 2026-08-16)