Remains of a building, which had existed in Goryeo early period, were found at the ruins located in
Jungsan-dong of Gyeongsan. From the building, roof tiles with inscription, gilt bronze sculpture from
Unified Shilla period, top-knot pin and celadon porcelain were excavated. Among them, the roof tiles
with inscription attracted attention.
The inscription contained useful information in judging the character of building. Especially, the
inscription included the word, ‘Wǎ-cǎo(瓦草)’. Roof tiles containing the word ‘Wǎ-cǎo(瓦草)’ have been
excavated from nationwide places. Since the roof tiles with ‘Wǎ-cǎo(瓦草)’ inscription were made
during the limited period from Unified Shilla to early Goryeo, it is possible to judge the year of
building existence close to absolute year.
The building remains were poor because of damage in later period; however, it was possible to
know the size of the building from the building ruins coverage that the building was not so big. Since
the roof tiles do not have Qīng-hǎi-bō-wén(靑海波紋) pattern, which is a typical pattern carried by
roof tiles made during Joseon period, it is believed that the building existed within the time period of
Goryeo only.
The roof tile inscription is ‘Dào-yáng-shào-wǎ-cǎo(道揚佋瓦草)’. Here, ‘Dào-yáng(道揚)’ was commonly
used for ‘Dào-cháng(道場)’ in woodblock print. The character ‘Shào(佋)’ was used to mean ‘Zhāo-mù(昭
穆)’, while ‘Wǎ-cǎo(瓦草)’ means roof tile. Accordingly, it is possible to judge the character of the
building from the inscription on roof tile. The building was a Buddhist temple which also performed
the function of praying shrine of an individual.
The building had been lost by fire and it was abandoned without recovery. The cause of building
loss may be the closing of Buddhist temples by the authority in military government(山川裨補都監),
which was established by Choi family during military regime period(崔氏武人政權). Another possibility
is that it was destroyed when Mongol army invaded Goryeo.
The bronze sculpture and inscription tiles excavated from the ruins at Jung san-dong, Gyeongsan,
are valuable and sufficient in guessing the style of Buddhist ceremony and the trend of Buddhist circle
during the Goryeo-period.