O-eosa Temple

Oeo-sa Temple on Unjesan Mountain is a sacred site that produced four great patriarchs of the Silla Dynasty. It is a temple founded during the reign of King Jinpyeong, the 26th monarch of Silla (579-632). Initially, it was called 'Hangsasa [恒沙寺],' but when Great Master Wonhyo and Seon Master Hyegong trained here, they competed to bring fish from a stream back to life using their spiritual power. One of the fish did not survive, while the other one survived and swam vigorously. Because each monk claimed the surviving fish as the one they had revived, they used the characters for 'o' [吾, meaning 'my' or 'I'] and 'eo' [魚, meaning 'fish'] and named it 'Oeo-sa [吾魚寺]' temple. Within the temple grounds are Daeungjeon, Nahanjeon, Seolseondang, Sanryeonggak, and other buildings. Among these, all except the Daeungjeon were recently built. The Daeungjeon is a multi-bracketed building (dapo style) with three kan (bays) in the front and two kan on the sides, featuring a hip-and-gable roof. It was rebuilt in the 17th year of King Yeongjo of Joseon (1741). The temple's representative artifacts include the Daeungjeon, the Bronze Bell of Oeo-sa Temple in Pohang, and Great Master Wonhyo's conical hat.