Yeonsusa Temple

Yeonsusa is a branch temple of Haeinsa within the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, said to have been founded in 802 CE on the south side of Gamaksan by the monk Gamak. When the temple later suffered a bedbug infestation, it was relocated to its current site on the north side of the ridge.

The temple's name — meaning roughly "flowing water" — comes from a legend about its spring. Water flows year-round at a constant temperature from a hole in the rock, and Silla's King Heongang is said to have cured his paralysis by drinking from it, naming the temple in gratitude. Even today, visitors climb up at dawn or dusk during summer to seek out this spring water — a custom well-known enough that locals simply say they're "going to Yeonsusa to take the water."

The ginkgo tree in front of the temple carries its own story. According to legend, it was planted by a Buddhist nun who had married into Goryeo royalty, given birth to a posthumous child, and later retreated to Yeonsusa after the fall of Goryeo — planting the tree to pray for the departed souls of the fallen Wang royal family. Standing 38m tall with a 7m girth, the tree was designated Gyeongnam Provincial Monument No. 124 in 1993.