Dongaksa Temple (Yecheon)

About this place

Dongaksa, recorded as Dongam (Eastern Hermitage), is located on the south slope of Naengjong Mountain (Cold Spring Mountain) and has a legend that it was once called Donghaksa because the terrain resembled a crane. It is said to have been founded in 671 by the Venerable Uisang, though the exact date is unknown. All that suggests an ancient temple once stood here is the pottery sherds still emerging from the ground. The current structures, built with the financial support of devotees in March 1934, include a residential hall (yosa) at the front and the Bogwangjeon (main hall) at the back. Due to severe deterioration, a new three-bay-by-two-bay wooden tile-roofed hip-and-gable building was completed in 1983 with parishioner funds. The Bogwangjeon signboard was re-hung and a stone Vairocana seated Buddha was moved there to be enshrined as the main deity.