Gaya Tumuli and Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Gaya Tumuli

   Right in the middle of Gimhae, a busy city just west of Busan, a low ridge of grassy mounds rises between apartment blocks and roads. These are the Daeseong-dong tumuli, the burial ground of the rulers of Geumgwan Gaya, one of the small kingdoms of the Gaya confederacy that flourished in the south of the Korean peninsula from the first centuries AD until it was absorbed by Silla in the sixth century. In 2023 a group of Gaya burial sites, including these, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

   Read the complete Gaya Tumuli write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Gaya Tumuli is where the day begins. Next is Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli.

2. 2. Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli

   The rounded grassy mounds rising behind Changnyeong look almost like natural hills until you notice how regular they are. These are the Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong tumuli, burial mounds of the rulers of Bihwa, one of the small kingdoms of the Gaya confederacy that flourished in the south of the Korean peninsula between roughly the first and sixth centuries before being absorbed by Silla. In 2023 they became part of a UNESCO listing that brings together seven Gaya tomb clusters, and they are among the most atmospheric of the group.

   Read the complete Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli comes up 64 km in. Next is Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon.

3. 3. Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon

   High in the forested folds of Gayasan, in South Gyeongsang province, a temple keeps one of the great treasures of the Buddhist world. Haeinsa holds the Tripitaka Koreana, more than eighty thousand wooden printing blocks carved in the thirteenth century with the complete Buddhist scriptures, an act of devotion undertaken while the Mongols were invading Korea, in the hope that the Buddha's protection would save the country. The blocks are kept in the Janggyeong Panjeon, a pair of long, plain wooden halls built in the fifteenth century, and the halls are the real marvel. Their design uses natural ventilation, windows of different sizes on opposite walls, and a floor packed with charcoal, lime, clay and salt to regulate humidity and temperature, and they have protected the blocks for centuries without modern technology. The halls were listed by UNESCO in 1995.

   Read the complete Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   128 km in you reach Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon. Next is back through Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli.

4. 4. back through Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong Tumuli, late in the day. Next is Gaya Tumuli.

5. 5. Gaya Tumuli

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Gaya Tumuli write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Gaya Tumuli. That is the ride.