During the Goryeo Dynasty, polygonal multi-story stone pagodas that deviated from the four-sided plan became popular in the northern part of Korea. This pagoda was also created in this trend and is a representative work of stone pagodas in the early Goryeo Dynasty. It clearly shows the splendid and aristocratic aspect unique to Buddhist culture at the time, and its overall proportions and sculptural techniques are solid, making it a worthy representative of multi-faceted, multi-story stone pagodas. Professor Youngho Jeong organized the special style of Woljeongsa's octagonal nine-story stone pagoda by member as follows.
First, the overall plan of the stone pagoda is octagonal, which deviates from the square plan of its predecessor.
Second, it is polygonal and multi-layered.
Third, in the stylobate, it can be seen that it was a bright and decorative design in that the lower stylobate was carved with a statue of the eye and a lotus stand was prepared, and the presence of stones at the top and body of the pagoda is also a unique feature.
Forthly, in the body of the pagoda, the bottom of each roof stone is uniquely treated with a square shape and an arc-shaped support, and although the permeability of each floor is small, the stylobate is stable, giving a rather cheerful feeling. And the decoration of the top member is similar to what is seen on one side of the craft pagoda and makes the entire stone pagoda look like a decorative form, so this can also be said to be unique to this stone pagoda.
In addition, the wind chime made of bronze and the headdress made of gilt bronze are used. It is an important resource because it allows us to examine metal craft techniques. It is currently designated and protected as National Treasure No. 48-1, and its total height is 15.2m.
The stylobate is placed on an octagonal platform stone made of 4 pieces, and the face stone of the lower stylobate is also made of 4 pieces of stone, and each side of the octagon has a stone. Each of the two inner statues is engraved, the capstone of the lower stylobate is also made of four stones, and the upper part of the upper plate is carved on top.
A star stone was inserted between the middle stone of the upper stylobate, and a shallow berm was provided on the top of the star stone. The body of the pagoda gradually decreases as you go up to the upper floors, but does not decrease drastically and maintains almost the same height starting from the second floor. Two or three stones are used depending on the size of the stone or roof stone, and each upper layer has one stone. The upper wheel part is in perfect shape, and the roadbed, bogbal, anghwa, and rim are made of stone, and the overpass, sump, carriage, and orb are made of gilt bronze. The chalju is made of water iron and has a total length of 4.3m. The lower part is thick and becomes thinner towards the upper part. It is embedded from the 9th to 8th floor roof stones, and the lower part is fixed with iron pieces. The overlapped top members appear to be from when the stone pagoda was first built, and only the beam appears to have been repaired several times.
When dismantled and restored in October 1970, a round silver-plated standing Amitabha Buddha statue was found on the 5th floor roof stone. One reliquary statue (height: 9.7㎝), and various reliquary relics were found in the reliquary on the top of the pagoda body on the first floor. In the pagoda body stone on the first floor, four bronze mirrors, a bronze box and a crystal reliquary containing four pieces of light pink reliquary, a full-body reliquary sutra, a gilt-bronze rectangular incense pack, and yellow rani and geumyeon flower incense sticks are found. Rice incense, ssamji, purple silk sachets, incense candles, juniper pieces, and incense pieces were excavated.
And the rooftop stones on the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 9th floors were newly created. Meanwhile, in front of this stone pagoda, there is a stone Bodhisattva statue kneeling on one knee, which is the same form as the three-story stone pagoda at Sinboksa Temple site in Gangneung. Although this stone pagoda suffered severe damage to each member due to several fires, it has excellent balance and is a representative multi-story stone pagoda of the Goryeo Dynasty. It is significant in that it was built in the southernmost part of the octagonal multi-story stone pagoda in terms of distribution.