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In 1907 a rumor circulated among Japanese residents in Korea that a giant stone Buddha statue had been discovered on the eastern side of Mount Toham in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. The rumor was started when a mailman told his postmaster that he had stumbled upon a grotto in the mountainside. Looters from across the country quickly rushed to the site and two of 10 statuettes disappeared from niches around the main Buddha statue. After the Resident-General of Korea Sone Arasuke visited the grotto, a small five-story stone pagoda that stood behind the Buddha statue disappeared as well. So began the Buddha's modern ordeals, a rude awakening to a peaceful slumber of 1,100 years.
¢ºThe first Governor-General of Korea Terauchi Masatake also climbed Mount Toham to inspect the Seokguram Grotto. After his visit, he ordered that the entire grotto be restored to its original state. A massive three-year restoration effort began in 1913, during which the grotto was taken to pieces and rebuilt for the first time since its construction. To stabilize the structure, Japanese engineers built a two-meter concrete encasement around it. Water leaked in despite the restoration and moss began to grow on the walls, which the Japanese attempted to wash off with steam.
¢ºThe preservation and maintenance of Seokguram Grotto was still a headache even after the national liberation. In 1957, some media reports declared that the grotto had been scoured with harsh steam and scrubbed with stiff brushes. A subcontractor in charge of cleaning the structure ignored basic rules that workers should stand a few feet away from the statues and should temper the heat of their steam cleaning. Finally another attempt at full restoration was made. In 1963, a wooden structure was built in front of the grotto to prevent wet air from entering. This ended up trapping humidity inside, so an air conditioner was installed and tourists were banned from going inside.
¢ºDuring the restoration in the 1960s, officials debated whether two of the eight Guardian Deities in the antechamber of the grotto should stand at a right angle to the other six or whether the two should stand in a straight line with the others. During the first restoration, the Japanese occupiers made them stand at a right angle, some argued. And on the insistence of Dr. Hwang Su-young, the chief supervisor of 1960s restoration, the two statues were placed in a straight line with the others. Now Sungkyunkwan University Museum has released a rediscovered photograph of the grotto taken just before the first restoration. It shows that the two statues originally stood at a right angle.
¢ºThe Seokguram Grotto is a world-renowned cave shrine, standing on a par with the Ajanta caves in India and the Dunhuang, Yungang and Longmen caves in China. In 1909, University of Tokyo professor Tei Sekino became the first historical expert to tour the Seokguram Grotto. He marveled at the structure and called it a masterpiece without peer in Asia. Seokguram is now listed as a UNESCO world heritage cultural asset. Yet we still don't know exactly what the grotto looked like originally, including whether it really had a skylight window. For our ignorance and negligence, we apologize to our ancestors of the Shilla Dynasty. They wouldn't tolerate even a 1-mm error in cutting a 10-m stone block.
This column was contributed by Chosun Ilbo in-house columnist Lee Seon-min.
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