Possibility of Circumambulation Facility of the Octagonal Pagoda of Goguryeo Buddhist Temple Site in the 5th Century

The purpose of this study is to identify the circumambulation facility of octagonal pagada sites in Gouryeo Temples. In Gouryeo, the data from 4 excavation sites have been confirmed to be from the 5th century. During this period, the pagoda was the central structure in the temple and the circumambulation ritual was the most important ceremony. Therefore, the circumambulation facility must have been necessary the wooden octagonal pagoda in Goguryeo as was the case in the Chinese pagodas in the 5-6th century. However, the possibility of circumambulation space have not been seriously disscussed in the research materials on Goguryeo pagoda sites. The aim of this paper was to clearify how the circumambulation facility was designed and how the facility was structured based on the data from the excavation reports. At the Goguryeo pagoda sites, evidence of a circumambulation facility actually existed. An important characteristic of the Goguryeo pagoda sites is that another foundation layer appears to be spaced from the basic outskirt of the base. Some documents believed this 'outer foundation layer' to be a waterspout facility (a rain water drainage : 낙수받이 시설) and others believed this to be double foundation(이중기단). But this study strongly assumed that this 'outer foundation layer(기초열)' is a circumambulation facility. From the remains at the pagoda site, the plan, characteristic of the circumambulation facility was identified to a considerable extent based on the interpretation of the excavation data.