Memories of Ma-i-san

Ma-I-San ( Horse-Ear Mountain) near Jinan, Jeolla-buk-do
( http://www.maisantapsa.co.kr/ )

· The 3 km bus ride from Jinan to the Northern Parking Lot where one can see logs arranged in rows of inverted Vs for the cultivation of mushrooms in the vicinity.


· The knee-crunching, ankle-tweaking, lung-smarting climb up stone steps to the narrow pass between the west and east peaks before the relief of the descent to Eun-soo-Sa.


· The welcoming and amusing sight of a stone trough refilled ironically with refreshing spring water by a stone horse half way up the climb.


· The friendly caretaker of Eun-soo-Sa who, when he saw me admiring the size of an ancient drum, startled me by banging it unceremoniously and inviting me to have a go at it as well.


· The impressive array of percussion instruments in the Jonggak pavilion which are used in Buddhist ceremonies. I was fortunate enough to be in the area when a priest did the ritual drumming. The reverberation of the drumbeats in the silence and darkness of evening in that ghostly setting was profoundly stirring.


· The chance meeting with a Filipina tour guide who now lives and works in Korea after marrying a local & the relief of being able to converse in English after days of struggling with my very limited Korean.


· The silent bonding as I help another ajumma assemble paper lotus lanterns in preparation for Buddha’s birthday celebrations. Actually, I just applied the starch as glue on individual paper petals or leaves while she arranged them on round wire frames.


· The unexpected gift of a book on Maisan from a kind gentleman who ran the restaurant cum souvenir shop where I had a meal before returning to Jinan.

Hills like horse's ears?

Ma-I-San ( Horse-Ear Mountain) near Jinan, Jeolla-buk-do ( http://www.maisantapsa.co.kr/ )
The silence here in the evening, when all the tourist crowds have departed, strikes one as being more profound. Or maybe my imagination is working overtime. It’s not surprising when one is in a place like this. Here, the mountains here are unlike any other mountains in Korea. Twin mountains rise out of the plains like horse’s ears and the main temple here stands amid numerous stone piled up on top of one another to resemble pagodas.


Above: man-made stone 'pagodas'; KNTO photo
The unusual profile of the natural landform inspires a lot of name-calling ( literally and in the positive sense.) The west peak, Am-maibong, regarded as the ‘female’ peak, is 686m high while Sut-maibong, its ‘male’ complement, is just lower by 6m. They’re also given different names as the seasons change. Above: Dotdae-bong in spring; photo from KNTO website
Above: Yonggak-bong in summer; KNTO photo
Sorry, can't find suitable pic as yet for Maibong ( autumn / fall)!

Above: Munpil-bong in winter; KNTO photo

Tapsa (Pagoda Temple) has an unearthly air to match its bizarre backdrop, as it is surrounded by stone pagodas of varying sizes and heights. Lee Gap-Ryoung , born in 1860 to an aristocratic family, began this project as an act of piety. Apparently, he put up 120 stone towers, built according to Taoist principles of yin and yang but now only 80 remain. Reputed to have survived on a spartan diet of pine leaves while erecting the stone pagodas, Lee passed away at 98 in 1958.
All the information above was gleaned from the tourist brochures and souvenir books. For a more personal account of Maisan, please see the next posting.