Wooden Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Triad and Ten Underworld Kings of Ssangbongsa Temple, Hwasun

Mokjo Jijangbosal sang (Wooden Statues of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva) and the others in Jijang-jeon (the hall for Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva) at Hwasun Ssangbongsa Temple

Jijang-jeon is the hall for Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Bodhisattva of hell), who resolved not to go to Nirvana till she relieve all the people. In Jijang-jeon at Ssangbongsa Tempel, Jijangbosal's sedentary statue stands surrounded by 21 pieces of wooden statues for Domyeongjonja, Mudokgwiwang, Siwang who judges the dead, Pangwan, Gwiwang, Dongja, Siwang and so on. Jijangbosal(Height 104cm) shaved her hair and has hair band on her forehead. The dharma suit and its pleats are similar to the ones of Amitayeorae sedentary statue in Geukrak-jeon and Sakyamuni sedentary statue in the main hall, It is presumed that the same sculptor or others in the same school judging from these styles.

Domyeongjonja (Height 146cm) who has a bold head, is standing beside Jijangbosal in the left and joining his hands with veneration and Mudokgwiwang(Height 148cm) in the right puts on jewelry crowns. By both side of these three statues, Siwang (Height 156cm) sits on the chair.

This statue has the most unique sculpture style among the Siwang statues in Joseon Dynasty. All the statues of Siwang have crowns on their head and wear flannelet suit and special suit embroidered dragons on. Two vivid dragons who are holding jade beads are carved on each side of chair. 6 pieces of statues for Pangwan, Gwiwang, Dongja and Sija who assist Siwang are standing between Siwangs and they seem to be the remains from original 8 pieces which was reported from the record. The colors of these wooden statues are faded and remained same as original color, because we couldn't find the mysterious colors as original ones through modern painting technique. There was discovered the records on the names, volumes, time and motive of each statue, which is very valuable for the study of Buddha's statues.

Source: Korea Heritage Service signboard ↗ · collected 2026-10-08