Hyangiram

Hyangiram hangs on the cliffs of Geumosan at the southern tip of Dolsan island, 27 kilometres by road from the cruise berth. The name means the hermitage that faces the sun. It is small, a cluster of halls fitted into the rock, and it draws more than a million visitors a year. Most come for the dawn.

Four places to ask for mercy

Korean Buddhism counts four great sanctuaries of Gwaneum, the bodhisattva of compassion known in Sanskrit as Avalokiteshvara. All four stand on the sea: Hongryeonam at Naksansa on the east coast, Bomunam on Ganghwa island near Incheon, Boriam at Namhae, and Hyangiram. The tradition at each is the same. Pilgrims climb, bow before the Gwaneum image and ask for a specific thing: a child's exam, a parent's health, a marriage.

VisitKorea gives the founding as 644, the fourth year of King Uija of Baekje. The founder was the monk Wonhyo, who is said to have seen Gwaneum here. He called it Wontongam. In 958 the monk Yunpil renamed it Geumoam, after the mountain, and in 1715 the monk Inmuk gave it the present name. The city's page puts the founding under Queen Seondeok of Silla instead. Both agree on Wonhyo and on the seventh century.

The turtle under the temple

Geumosan means iron-turtle mountain. From the sea the ridge is supposed to look like a great turtle carrying a sacred book into the water. The rocks around the halls are split in a pattern like a shell. The hermitage is also called Yeongguam, the spirit-turtle hermitage. During the Japanese invasion of 1592 the monks here fought under Yi Sun-sin. The cliff served as a lookout over the approach to the naval base.

Seven gaps

The climb from the car park is the price of admission. The stone steps rise at a slope the Korean press puts near 40 degrees. The city describes them as steep stairs climbed again and again. Then come the rocks. The path passes through seven crevices in the cliff, some of them wide enough for one person at a time. The first is a gate so low that everyone bends. The city says that is the point: humility on the way to the Buddha. Local belief says that passing through all seven earns one wish.

The steps are steep, the gaps are narrow, and the sea is below the whole way.

At the top the halls look east over open water. The Gwaneum hall has the sunrise view. A stone Gwaneum about three metres tall stands beside it. A rock called Jwaseondae is where Wonhyo is said to have sat in meditation. Visitors throw coins at it and make a wish if the coin stays on. Camellias and other subtropical plants grow around the cliff.

The fire

At 00:24 on 20 December 2009 a fire started in the main hall. By morning the main hall, the bell pavilion and the temple office were gone. Police investigated arson and found no cause. The timing was cruel. The hermitage's New Year sunrise festival was eleven days away, and the bell that rings in the year had burned with its pavilion.

Rebuilding began in December 2010 and cost ₩1.2 billion, shared by the state, the province, the city and the temple. The work was 90 per cent done by November 2011. The restored main hall, now called Wontongbojeon after the hermitage's first name, and the bell pavilion were dedicated in 2012.

The sunrise festival

Each year from 31 December to 1 January the city runs the Hyangiram Sunrise Festival on the slopes below the hermitage. The 14th edition was the one the 2009 fire nearly cancelled. The 28th, over New Year 2024, opened at 23:00 on the 31st. There were wish candles, the ringing of the New Year bell and fireworks sponsored by the Hanwha plant in town. The city laid on 1,500 parking spaces and twelve shuttle buses. The 30th was held over New Year 2026. Organisers have spoken of 50,000 to 80,000 people over the two days.

No cruise call lands on New Year. On an ordinary morning the halls open at sunrise and close at sunset, and there is no admission charge. Older guides quote ₩2,000 and 09:00 to 18:00; VisitKorea and the city now say free.