Mahayon Hermitage

38°38′25″N 128°05′07″E / 38.6403°N 128.0854°E / 38.6403; 128.0854

Mahayeon Hermitage (Korean: 마하연터; Hanja: 摩訶衍址) was a Korean Buddhist hermitage, located at Naegeumgang-ri, Kumgang-gun, Kangwon-do, North Korea. This structure was located at an altitude of 846m, the highest point of the Manpok-dong Valley of Mount Geumgang and was a branch hermitage of the Yujomsa temple.^[1]

Paintings (Joseon period)

Mahayeon was depicted by several Korean painters. Among them:

• Kim Hong-do <마하연 (摩訶衍)> as #43 in the 《Geumgang Four Counties Album 금강사군첩(金剛四郡帖)》, 1788
• Kim Ha-jong, <마하연 (摩訶衍)> as #17 of the 《Haesando Album》, 1815

Japanese colonial period

The #12 (1932) of the "Joseon historical site walk" contains several views of each temple around Mt. Geumgang, Mahayeon among them.^[2] Moreover, the area became a touristic destination, leading to the publication of illustrated guides.^[3] These pictures taken during the Japanese colonial period are precious since many of these buildings are no longer extant.

Destruction

During the Korean war, the Bombing of North Korea dropped a total of 635,000 tons of bombs, including 32,557 tons of napalm, on Korea.^[4] "Every installation, facility, and village in North Korea [became] a military and tactical target", and the orders given to the Fifth Air Force and Bomber Command was to "destroy every means of communications and every installation, factory, city, and village".^[5] As a result, this hermitage has been destroyed by the US bombings of the area.^[1]

References

Sources

• Sekino Tadashi (1916–1935). 朝鮮總督府, Japanese Governor of Korea (ed.). 朝鮮古蹟図譜 [Joseon historical sites walk]. 15 volumes.

• Tokuda Tomijirō (徳田富次郎) (1930). Mt. Kumgang of 12,000 peaks: Korea. Tokuda Photo Studio Main Store.

• Korean Buddhist Jogye Order Headquarters, ed. (2011). 북한의 전통사찰 A B 세트 [North Korean traditional temples]. 養士齋. ISBN 9788996665908.. 10 volumes, 2800 pages. What is said about Jeongyangsa can be accessed through this Naver link.

• Armstrong, Charles K. (2010-12-20). "The Destruction and Reconstruction of North Korea, 1950-1960" (PDF). The Asia-Pacific Journal. 8 (51): 1. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
• Conway-Lanz, Sahr (4 August 2014). "The Ethics of Bombing Civilians After World War II: The Persistence of Norms Against Targeting Civilians in the Korean War". The Asia-Pacific Journal. 12 (37).

This page was last edited on 5 September 2023, at 00:20