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All South Korea Jinan Tapsa Temple

Tapsa Temple

120 mortarless pagodas built by one Korean hermit.

Jinan, South Korea

Added By
ser flac
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Tapsa Temple   Seung-il Ryu/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Tapsa Temple   Seung-il Ryu/NurPhoto via Getty Images
  Michael Kim / CC BY-ND 2.0
  theaucitron / CC BY-SA 2.0
  Steve46814 / CC BY-SA 4.0
  Max Cortesi / Atlas Obscura User
  Max Cortesi / Atlas Obscura User
Tapsa Temple on Buddha’s birthday   wanderingtraveler / Atlas Obscura User
  Max Cortesi / Atlas Obscura User
  Max Cortesi / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The difference between having a singular artistic vision and obsessive insanity can be quite narrow. Straddling the line is Buddhist hermit Yi Gap Yong.

Yong created 120 stone pagodas below the Horse Ear Mountains in South Korea. And he did so without any tools, mortar or help from his friends.

Yong came to the area to meditate in 1885 when he was only 25 years old. When he first arrived, it was a tranquil landscape, but was not yet a temple, and he was not yet an ordained monk. Lack of formal training did little to slow down his work, and over the next 30 years he built the pagodas while living alone as a hermit.

Created out of circles of larger rocks, the pagodas eventually come to a point, giving them their conical peak. All made solely of local rocks from streams and rivers, some of the largest pagodas tower 30 feet above the rest of the temple complex.

Yong died in 1957 nearly 100 years old. Today, over 80 of the pagodas remain and have been preserved for tourists. A white statue near the temple depicts the creator of the complex, Yi Gap Yong, so he can watch over his impressive statues forever.

Related Tags

Architectural Oddities Sacred Spaces Outsider Architecture Pagodas Architecture

Community Contributors

Added By

serflac

Edited By

J0x, Max Cortesi, wanderingtraveler, Michelle Cassidy

  • J0x
  • Max Cortesi
  • wanderingtraveler
  • Michelle Cassidy

Published

November 21, 2011

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Tapsa Temple
Jinan, 55450
South Korea
35.759112, 127.411334

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