| North Chuncheong Province Danyang-gun County Deokjeol-san |
| a heritage-asset of the central region of the Baekdu-daegan Mountain-system one of the Sacred Danyang-Palgyeong Sites |
| Sa-in-am Cliffs |
| Good views of these famous cliffs, on an overcast day in April 2011. The temple Cheongryeon-sa is visible on the left. |
| Government sign showing views of the four seasons here (a favorite Korean landscape motif), and a close-up of the main cliff. Notice how in the longest section down from the highest part, it almost looks like a standing statue of Mireuk-bul [Maitreya the Future Buddha] -- the top rocks as his pagoda-like crown, the squarish face rounded-at-the-top (lighter, yellowish high patch), hands folded-together across the middle, recessed broken parts as feet...? Compare this Goryeo-era Mireuk-bul statue in Buyeo, and see this explanation of cliff-buddhas. |
| perspective flipped horizontally, for comparison. |
These dramatic and colorful crenelated cliffs soar at the eastern foot of 780-meter Mt. Deokjeol-san and 8km north
of the Hwangjang-san ridgeline of the Baekdu-daegan crest, They are named "Sa-in" which was a medieval
government office similar to a magistrate. They became called-so by the locals due to the popularity of
Goryeo-Dynasty Neo-Confucian scholar U Tak (1263-1342), who held that office in this area and frequently
enjoyed leisure and studies at their feet. The name became official in a declaration honoring U Tak by Danyang
Magistrate Im Jae-gwang, during the reign of late-15th-Century Joseon King Seongjong. The Sain-am was famously
praised as a "gift from Heaven" by leading late-Joseon calligrapher, painter, Shilhak scholar & official "Chusa" Kim
Jeong-hui, who compared it to the fabled Hae-geumgang cliffs and wrote that it appears as if woven from fine silk.
of the Hwangjang-san ridgeline of the Baekdu-daegan crest, They are named "Sa-in" which was a medieval
government office similar to a magistrate. They became called-so by the locals due to the popularity of
Goryeo-Dynasty Neo-Confucian scholar U Tak (1263-1342), who held that office in this area and frequently
enjoyed leisure and studies at their feet. The name became official in a declaration honoring U Tak by Danyang
Magistrate Im Jae-gwang, during the reign of late-15th-Century Joseon King Seongjong. The Sain-am was famously
praised as a "gift from Heaven" by leading late-Joseon calligrapher, painter, Shilhak scholar & official "Chusa" Kim
Jeong-hui, who compared it to the fabled Hae-geumgang cliffs and wrote that it appears as if woven from fine silk.