Unaksan (Mt. Unak) - Pocheon, Korea

Unaksan Mountain rises 936 meters above sea level. Oddly shaped rocks and peaks make the landscape particularly beautiful. Historical relics from the Hugoguryeo Period, including the site of a fortress for Gung Ye (the first king of the short-lived Hugoguryeo state) can be seen on the mountain. Majestic peaks surround Mangyeongdae, the main peak, and forests of broad-leaved trees turn striking colors in the fall.

The trails are beautiful with purple magnolias in mid April and azaleas and mountain magnolias in May. The Unaksan Mountain Autumn Leaves Festival is held in mid October every year as the leaves begin to turn to autumn colors. Together with Gwanaksan, Chiaksan, Hwaaksan, and Songaksan mountains, Unaksan Mountain is one of the five most rugged mountains in the Central region and a popular one.

It takes maximum 2 hours riding from the central Seoul by car and the tracking takes 4 hours app proximately and may take more depend on your condition.

 Full view of Unaksan on the way to the mountain.

 Samchungdan.
On the trail, you can meet this Samchungdan. These altars were built to memory 3 patriotic people, Byungse Cho, Ikhyun Choi and Youngwhan Min who fought against Japanese in 1900s.

 The forest is very calm. No green leaves come out yet.

 Unaksan consists of this kind of big rocks.


There always stone towers built by trailers wishing safe hiking.


At some level of mountain, now you can see the top.

You can't not see this scenery from the outside of mountain. It allows to those who make a challenge to this mountain.





The mountain management built these steps. They were not there few years ago.
 




The stairway to the top. The old ladder is sill waiting for the challenger.  

 On the top.

 But the actual top is this rock.
 
 
On the way back, a monk or alien like rock is watching the opposite side of the mountain.
 
 Near to the monk rock, there also elephant rock conveys the temple, Hyundeungsa.


The main gate of Hyundeungsa - Injumoon.

The Hamheodang Deuktong funerary pagoda, called "budo", and its stone lantern were erected to preserve the sarisa relic reamains of Hamheo Deuktong(posthumous name is Gihwam 1376-1433), a scholar monk and Seon Buddhist master who renovated Hyeondeungsa temple in 1411 C.E. at the dawn of the Joseon kingdom. The stupa is an octagonal circular shrine 226 cm in height, situated on the southwest side, distant from the temple precinct. Across the body of the stupa, "Hamhep Dangeuktong" was carved in Zhuanshu script style horizontally.
The stupa is formed of a rounded body on top of three stylobate tiers, which is actually composed of two octagonal tiers atop of an octagonal foundation stone. The stone roof is carved in an octagonal shape with sharply slanting lines that continue directly down the body of the rood with no reversal in slope.
On the upper portion of the stupa, the base of the finial and the decoration are carved from a single stone and the sections of jewel wheel and the jewel itself are likewise formed from a single stone.
These structure would have been erected shortly after the death of venerable Hamheo in the year 1433. As such, this stupa offers important data in the study of circular stone budo during the early years of the Josen Dynasty.
A small stone lantern 120 cm in height stands before the budo. Similar example of stone lanterns erected in front of the stupa can be found in comparable structures from the end of the Goryeo Dynasty to the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty. The overall format of this characteristic pattern is a planar square, similar to the Janmyeong Lantern(lanterns hung from the caves of gates) style that was popular during the Joseon Dynasty.



This 3-story stone pagoda from the early Joseon Dynasty built on the left end of a large stone terrace within the Hyeundeungsa Temple is 3.7m high and has been preserved almost perfectly. Though this stone pagoda has the common features of square 3-story stone pagodas, taking into account its special stylobates and types of ornamental patterns on the surface that are unseen from pagodas in the Goryeo Dynasty, it is presumed to be have constructed in the early Joseon Dynasty
 


Hyeondeungsa temple.  




If you like to visit this mountain and temple, please send me an email to hikingkorea356@Gmail.com with your desired date.

Thank you!

 

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