page_title: Jirisan
section_title: Legends
hierarchical_section_title: Jirisan / Legends
caption_attribution_description: Jirisan peak
context_page_description: Jirisan is a mountain located in the southern region of South Korea. It is the second-tallest mountain in South Korea after Jeju Island's Hallasan, and the tallest mountain in mainland South Korea. After Jirisan, Seoraksan is the third tallest mountain in South Korea and the second-tallest mountain on the South Korean mainland.
  The 1915m-high mountain is located in Jirisan National Park. The park spans three provinces and is the largest in South Korea. The largest proportion of the national park is in the province of South Gyeongsang. The highest peak of the mountain, Cheonhwangbong is also located in this province. Another well-known peak is Samshin-bong.
  Jirisan is at the southern end of the Sobaek and Baekdudaegan mountain ranges, the "spine" of the Korean Peninsula incorporating the Sobaek mountain range and most of the Taebaek mountain range.
  There are seven major Buddhist temples on Jirisan. Hwaeomsa is the largest and best-known temple among these. It contains several national treasures, mostly stone artworks from about 600–900 CE.
context_section_description: At the entrance to Baemsagol Valley, some 1,300 years ago, there used to be Songnimsa Temple. This temple practiced an annual rite on the Chilwolbaekjung holiday (full moon day of July by the lunar calendar) wherein they selected the most pious monk and prayed earnestly for his safe passage to paradise as a deity. In a certain year, the then highest monk Seosandaesa visited the temple, heard about this Buddhist rite, and guessed that there must be a secret behind it. Seosandesa allowed that year's chosen monk to pray wearing a silk robe anointed with poison, linked by a silk thread to Sinseodae Terrace. Seosandaesa then hid himself behind a rock to watch. At around 1 am, an imugi anaconda, which was sorry not to have turned into a dragon, slithered up from the valley below Sinseondae Terrace to the sound of roaring water. The imugi jumped upon the praying monk, bit him in the mouth, and disappeared into the water. Seosandaesa returned to the temple, and waited until dawn. Early in the morning, he, together with the villagers, went to Sinseondae Terrace to find that the imugi had died dead, having failed to swallow the whole body of the monk. Seosandaesa now came to know about Songnimsa Temple's secret of sacrificing a monk to an imugi every year. Thereafter, the valley was named as Baemsagol, which means the valley where an imugi, which failed to become a dragon, died. The village at the entrance to Baemsagol Valley was named Banseon (meaning a "half deity") in memory of the dead monk because he was sacrificed without becoming a deity.
caption: Jirisan peak
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