Muwisa, Wolchulsan

Quick facts

Address

308 Muwisa-ro, Seongjeon-myeon, Gangjin-gun, Jeollanam-do

About this place

Muwisa stands on Wolchulsan in Seongjeon-myeon, Gangjin-gun, Jeollanam-do, and is a branch temple of Daeheungsa, head temple of the twenty-second district of the Jogye Order. The Seon master Hyeongmi stayed at Muwigapsa after returning from Tang China in 905. The Geungnakbojeon was built in 1430, the twelfth year of King Sejong of Joseon. By the inscriptions at the lower left and right of the Amitabha triad wall painting, these paintings are taken to have been made in 1476.

Origin and history

The Seon master Hyeongmi stayed at Muwigapsa after returning from Tang China in 905.

The Geungnakbojeon was built in 1430, the twelfth year of King Sejong of Joseon.

By the inscriptions at the lower left and right of the Amitabha triad wall painting, these paintings are taken to have been made in 1476.

The temple is a branch of Daeheungsa, head temple of the twenty-second district of the Jogye Order.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  1476, written on the painting

  By the inscriptions at the lower left and right of the Amitabha triad wall painting, these paintings are taken to have been made in 1476.

  documented history

• Power spot

  The Geungnakbojeon of 1430

  The Geungnakbojeon was built in 1430, the twelfth year of King Sejong of Joseon.

  documented history

• What people do here

  Hyeongmi at Muwigapsa

  The Seon master Hyeongmi stayed at Muwigapsa after returning from Tang China in 905.

  documented history

What gives a date here is the painting itself. By the record written at its lower left and right, the Amitabha triad wall painting is taken to have been made in 1476. The year is written inside the picture.

One other building on this site has its age fixed by writing found within it. The Geungnakjeon of Bongjeongsa in Andong is dated by a ridge-beam text of 1625 that records a roof repair in 1363. One is writing on a beam and one is writing on a wall painting, but in both the date comes from a sentence the thing left about itself.

Forty-six years separate the hall from the painting. The Geungnakbojeon was built in 1430; the paintings are taken to be of 1476.

The temple is a branch of Daeheungsa in Haenam, which holds the bowl and robe of the master Seosan and was granted the name Pyochung, and which is on this site as well.

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. 월출산 무위사(月出山 無爲寺) — 한국민족문화대백과사전 (accessed 2026-08-16)