There are nearly a hundred more wooden blocks in the collection of Tripitaka Koreana than previously thought, South Korea's cultural heritage administration said Monday.
Tripitaka Koreana, or "Palmandaejanggyeong" in Korean, is a collection of 13th-century Buddhist scriptures carved on more than 80,000 wooden printing blocks. It is considered the most comprehensive set of Buddhist scriptures found to date. The Haein Temple, in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, 354 kilometers south of Seoul, where the texts are kept, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The number of these wooden blocks has been a source of contention since no comprehensive research has been done on the matter, even after it was designated a national treasure in 1962.
But after 10 years of counting and confirming, the Cultural Heritage Administration said it has determined that there are 81,352 blocks of the text, which is 94 more than what was recorded in 1915 when Korea was a colony of Japan.
The agency has also discovered that 36 of them were manufactured during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule.
Yun Sun-ho, head of the agency's tangible cultural properties section, said there are varying opinions on whether those made during the Japanese occupation should be designated a separate cultural property.
The agency has decided to hold an academic conference or a public hearing around October to decide on the subject, he added. (Yonhap)
