Tapsa, Maisan

Quick facts

Address

Maisan, Jinan-eup, Jinan-gun, Jeollabuk-do

Spiritual entities

Yi Gap-ryong (李甲龍, 1860–1957)

About this place

Tapsa was founded by the lay ascetic Yi Gap-ryong (1860–1957). He built stone towers in order to atone for people’s sins and to save all beings, and is said to have made a hundred and eight of them in his lifetime; about eighty remain. The number comes from the hundred and eight afflictions. The towers were raised without mortar, stone laid on stone, and are known for standing firm through wind and rain.

Origin and history

Tapsa was founded by the lay ascetic Yi Gap-ryong. Born Yi Gyeong-ui and a descendant of Prince Hyoryeong of the Jeonju Yi clan, he lived from 1860 to 1957.

He sought to realise a Dragon-Flower world drawing on Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, and raised the stone towers in order to atone for people’s sins and to save all beings. He is said to have built a hundred and eight in his lifetime; about eighty remain. The number comes from the hundred and eight afflictions.

What it is locally associated with

• OriginProtection & Safety

  A hundred and eight towers

  The number Yi Gap-ryong raised over his lifetime, taken from the hundred and eight afflictions. About eighty remain.

  documented history

• Power spot

  Towers that do not fall

  Built without mortar, stone laid on stone, and known for holding firm through wind and rain.

  documented history

What this place is for was stated by the man who made it: to atone for people’s sins and to save all beings, with the tower count itself taken from the hundred and eight afflictions. It is uncommon on this site for the purpose of a place to survive in its founder’s own words rather than as a story handed down.

The towers are the thing to see. Raised without mortar, stone set on stone, they are known for holding firm through wind and rain.

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.
• Musok and gut — Korea’s living folk religionWho the mudang are and what a gut is. And what to do if you walk in on one.
• 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. 마이산 탑사(馬耳山 塔寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 — Academy of Korean Studies (accessed 2026-08-10)