Maisan - Horse Ears Mountain.
The hike up Mt. Maisan is very steep. Most of the way is up wood timber or stone steps which are hard going up and also coming back down. The little Korean woman at the right could never straighten her back. She was probably close to 90 years old yet she made it to the top.

Heavy timber beams are being cut for new construction.

Above: Candles and lanterns
Left: Roof overhang detail

Above: Prayer rocks
Left: Tapsa Temple

This is a beautiful site for a temple. In the early 1900's, hermit Yi Kap-ryong built about 80 stone pagodas over a ten year period as a prayer for peace. The ones behind the temple are 10 meters high.

Far left: Beautiful standing Buddha next to the cliff

The Horse Ear Mountain and Tapsa Temple
Near Jeonju in the Province of Jeollabuk-do you will find Mount Maisan, "Horse Ear Mountain,” named because of the split part way up the mountain. The locals claim that the slightly taller half of the mountain belongs to the husband while the smaller is the wife.

A legend says that this couple were mountain spirits on their way to heaven. They must make it to heaven before dawn so that no humans will spot them. A housewife sees them early in the morning on her way to get water. The wife asks the husband to stop, but he refuses and ignores her. As he moved on even higher and faster they are instantly frozen into rock.

On Mt. Maisan, you find some 80 stone towers or pagodas that were erected in the early 1900’s by a hermit named Yi Kap-ryong. They were made by piling hundreds of rocks atop of one another without any use of mortar. Some are as high as 10 meters! Hermit Yi Kap-ryong piled the stones over a ten-year period as a personal prayer for peace. The prayer rocks are engineering marvels. Yi spent more than ten years piling these natural stones up one by one without any mechanical help, working only at night. Although the highest stone structure is over 10 meters high, they are as solid as if they were stuck together by mortar. The stone towers have stood for over 100 years withstanding the forces of strong wind, rain and typhoons that have uprooted many trees in the area.

Yi’s daughter-in-law claimed that he alone could never have completed such a feat without the help of a heavenly spirit who descended to Earth each night to help him build the towers. The pagodas have been said to be an extension of salvation for mankind to strengthen the spirit. The stones were chosen from mountains and rivers throughout Korea, with some being used for each tower. Yi died at the age of 98, with the stone towers being a testament that something spiritual took place on the mountain.

Tapsa Temple can be found after climbing the many stairs to the saddle between the two mountains.