Culture Focus

Five Neo-Confucian Rituals and Palaces

Having adopted Neo-Confucianism as the cardinal tenet of state ruling, Joseon prioritized Neo-Confucian rituals above all else. The rites broke down into five types: memorial services for the deities, festivities for congratulatory events, guest reception ceremonies, rites for the army going into battle, and funeral rites.

Of the five, memorial services for the deities stood out as the most important events. Being presided over by the king, those rituals for the deities were categorized into three ones according to the scale: big, middle, and small. First, the big rites included those offered either at Jongmyo Shrine or at Sajikdan Altar. Jongmyo Shrine was a Confucian royal shrine where they performed ancestor worship rites for the ghosts of the deceased kings, while Sajikdan Altar was used for worship services offered to the deities governing land and grain. The two rituals were the most symbolic events of the nation and "Jongmyo" and "Sajik" have become the household names symbolizing the dignity of the nation. The midsize rituals included a memorial service at the Altar of Agriculture, memorial rites at Munmyo Confucian Shrine in Hanyang, and worship of the deities of mountains and the sea. Last, the small-scale rituals included those for the deities of horse-raising or of the big rivers or mountains.

As the king presided over the Confucian rites, the palace had a symbolic meaning as a ritual hall. The rituals were performed not only at the palace but also at various altars, shrines, or royal tombs scattered outside the palace or around the capital. For this reason, the king would form a magnificent procession before leaving the palace and performed memorial rituals at the altars in and out of the capital. Those rituals were attractive spectacles for the residents of the capital and served as a chance for the king to communicate with his people directly. Although the palace was a forbidden territory for the commoners, the Confucian rituals offered a chance for two-way communication.

Jongmyo Shrine on the Left and Sajikdan Altar on the Right Side of the Palace

The architects who designed the palaces in Hanyang also established Jongmyo Shrine and Sajikdan Altar. Jongmyo Shrine and Sajikdan Altar were set up on the left side and the right side of Gyeongbokgung Palace when it faces south, according to the tradition established since the period of the Zhou dynasty in old China in the seventh century BCE. Following in the footsteps of the ancient dynasties of China, the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties also followed the principle. Due to the differences in terms of urban structure or palace construction, however, the structures of Jongmyo Shrine and Sajikdan Altar were different from their Chinese counterparts.

Similar to the architecture found in the Tang dynasty to the dynasties of Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing in old China, Jongmyo Shrine (Imperial Ancestral Temple) and Sajikdan Altar (Shejitan Altar) had been set up symmetrically on both sides of the street outside the southern wall of the palace. The palaces of China had a double wall structure composed of palace walls (the inner court) and an imperial castle (the outer court). The Imperial Ancestral Temple and Shejitan Altar were set up between the two castles: outside of the palace walls and inside of the imperial castle. In the Forbidden City in Beijing, for example, when the visitors enter through the south gate (Tiananmen), the main gate of the outher court (the Imperial City), they can find the Imperial Ancestral Temple on the right side and Shejitan Altar on the left side of the street stretching north. As the general public was officially forbidden to enter the outer court, the rituals of the temple and the altar were not disclosed to the outside world.

With Gyeongbokgung Palace situated at the center, Jongmyo Shrine is located 1.2 kilometers east of the palace (south of Changdeokgung Palace) while Sajikdan Altar is 700 meters west of the palace. Both in terms of location and the size of the facilities, the layout of the buildings is by no means symmetrical. As one of the most conspicuous differences, the palaces of Hanyang in Joseon had palace walls but were devoid of an imperial castle, so Jongmyo Shrine and Sajikdan Altar were located at a site where private houses were densely concentrated. Therefore, the citizens of the capital could easily watch the royal parades moving to Jongmyo Shrine and Sajikdan Altar.

Currently, the structure of Jongmyo Shrine and Sajikdan Altar are still preserved intact at their original sites even some six hundred years after their construction. In May every year, the descendants of the royal family offer memorial services with sincerity at Jongmyo Shrine. These are accompanied by grandiose music and dance performances.

Memorial Services at Jongmyo Shrine and Sajikdan Altar: Joyous Festivals after Enshrining a Mortuary Tablet

With every changes of the seasons, the Joseon kings would chastely clear their minds and bodies and offer memorial services at Jongmyo Shrine and Sajikdan Altar. The ceremonies of invoking the deities and bowing to them with sincerity were done in the middle of the night when it became quiet. The king would arrive at the shrine, wore the ceremonial dress and cap, and bowed to the deities at the designated hour.

When the royal parade of the king, who rode on a colorfully decorated palanquin, left the palace gate and moved to Jongmyo Shrine, it offered a rare attraction for the public, which otherwise would not have a chance to see such a big spectacle. Nothing was more spectacular than the royal parade on the day when the company came back to the palace after keeping the dead royal family member's ancestral tablet at Jongmyo Shrine.

After the death of a king, the newly enthroned king and the central government bureaucrats were required to be prudent in their conduct and were prohibited from holding festivities or singing boisterously for up to three years. For three years, the mortuary tablet of the deceased king was enshrined with solemn daily rituals at the palace. After the three years, the mortuary tablet was enshrined at Jongmyo Shrine announcing the end of the funeral procedure. The new monarch left the palace holding the mortuary tablet of the deceased king and enshrined it at Jongmyo Shrine and returned to the palace rather lightheartedly. The royal parade at this time was accompanied by joyous music and dance performances that had been prohibited for up to three years. Government officials wrote essays eulogizing the new king and female artists sang songs or danced. The street and nearby facilities were decorated in five colors: yellow, blue, white, red and black (or green). They constructed a big mountain-shape installment with trees embellished with decorations in front of the main palace gate. At one corner of the street, clowns performed plays and other merrymaking events. All the festivities were open to the public to make them laugh and chat with each other. It was an exceptional day inside the capital that otherwise had no such uproarious occasions.

Midnight Ancestor Worship at the Altar of Agriculture outside the Capital and the King's Demonstration of Farming

The Altar of Agriculture where the deities of agriculture were enshrined was located at a wide area along the rice paddy on the eastern outskirts of the capital. As the king had to demonstrate farming himself, they could not set up the altar inside the capital. It was customary after midnight, when a new day began, that they invoked the deities and held ancestor rituals. As the altar was located outside the capital, the king arrived at the altar by riding on a palanquin, waited for some minutes near the altar, and performed the rite at a designated hour. When the day broke, the king moved to the rice paddy, pulled a plow, and drove cattle for demonstration. The royal demonstration was followed by the display of the same movements made by the crown prince and then the government officials in good order. Besides, farmers also participated in the program while soldiers guarded the location of the event by holding colorful flags. After the event, both the farmers and the soldiers were offered food as a reward for their labor. Inside the palace, food and wine were served for the high-ranking officials by the king. The worship service at the Altar of Agriculture was abolished in the twentieth century. Houses now stand in what used to be the rice paddy and the field used for the demonstrations. However, the altar still remains intact to make visitors feel and taste the mood and the atmosphere.

Confucian Shrine Where the Crown Prince's School Entrance Was Celebrated

Munmyo was a hall for worshiping the ancient Chinese sage-phi-losopher Confucius (as well as the general name for Confucian shrines) located at the back of Changgyeonggung Palace in the northeastern area of the capital. It included Seonggyungwan, the state-run Neoconfucian academy. Here, future high-ranking official hopefuls studied books for the civil service examinations. With every change of the seasons, the king visited Munmyo Shrine and bowed to the progenitor of Confucianism as a sign of respect.

A ceremony to celebrate the crown prince's first day of school was also held at Munmyo Shrine. At the ceremony, a prominent scholar, having been picked out as the future teacher of the prince, had a question-and-answer session with the prince on learning. The education of the prince had a special meaning because Joseon's state ideology of Neo-Confucianism emphasized the Confucian classics that formed the foundation of politics for government officials. Therefore, the ritual for the prince's entrance to school was one of the biggest events for the royal family. When the prince came back to the palace after the entrance ceremony, the king would throw a party for the government officials to celebrate the event. The king showed the utmost respect to the teacher of the prince. When the prince grew up and ascended the throne, his master usually took up an important government post.

Being a subsidiary organization of Munmyo Shrine, Seonggyungwan was the nation's highest standard academy. Seonggyungwan students were given a chance to work as the future leaders of the nation. Sometimes, students would take collective action against the king's policies. When students expressed their negative opinions in the form of declaring a class boycott, the king moved one step back and sought a proper compromise as he found it hard to use oppressive power.

Guan Yu Shrine in the East and the South of the Capital

Guan Yu, a general of Shu Han in the third century BCE in ancient China, was well known for his fidelity and loyalty to the nation. Shrines built in honor of the noted warrior emerged from the fifth and sixth centuries in old China. Thanks to the popular belief that Guan Yu masterminded wealth, he got great fame among the people and shrines devoted to him prospered across the nation. It was not until the outbreak of the Japanese invasion of Joseon in 1592 that a Guan Yu Shrine was built in Joseon. When the Ming dynasty sent its rescue forces to Joseon during the war, Chinese soldiers built a Guan Yu Shrine in their barracks in order to pray for the grace of war deities. Even after the war, the Guan Yu Shrine was preserved as a hall where the royal family held memorial services for Guan Yu. In Seoul, two Guan Yu Shrines were newly built, one each outside of the east and the west of the capital.

The kings of Joseon emphasized the importance of the memorial services at the Guan Yu Shrine since the eighteenth century and visited the hall, which was interpreted as the political ambition to displaying the sovereign dignity to the officials. By paying their respects to Guan Yu, who was faithful and loyal to the monarch, Joseon dynasty kings were emphasizing the virtue of loyalty to the king.

Royal Tombs Located Outside the Capital and the Royal Parade

Royal tombs of the Joseon dynasty kings were also the site of Neo-Confucian-style ancestor worship services. Over its more than five hundred years, Joseon produced twenty-seven kings and, accordingly, a great number of royal tombs. Royal tombs were also made in honor of those who were promoted to king status posthumously. In cases where a royal concubine gave birth to a son who later became the king, her tomb would be as large as a royal tomb. Those who died young as crown princes were buried in a royal manner as well.

The tombs of Chinese emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties were clustered together under a huge mountain, but the royal tombs of Joseon were scattered in various places. Currently, as many as forty-two tombs remain intact, including those of queen dowagers, royal concubines whose sons became kings, and crown princes, as well as kings and queens. The royal tomb of King Taejo stands out as a model tomb.br>
After being enthroned, the new king customarily paid tribute at the royal tomb of his processor. The royal parade proceeded from a palace to a royal tomb in a grandiose style. Royal tombs were clustered together in the eastern and the western suburbs of the capital. Dongguneung Royal Tomb, located some 13 kilometers east of the capital, houses nine mausoleums, including the royal tomb of King Taejo. In the eighteenth century, there were many cases when, during the parade, some people would block the procession and express their grievances directly to the king. These incidents were frequent occurrences, despite officials' attempts to stop the people from expressing their voice. The king, however, paid attention to the opinions of the people in many cases.

Grandiose Parade at Hwaseong Fortress

One of the legendary royal parades to a royal tomb was the visit of the twenty-second monarch, King Jeongjo, to the tomb of his ill-fated father, Crown Prince Sado, at Hwaseong (Brilliant Castle) Fortress in Suwon City, south of Seoul. Upon assuming the throne, King Jeongjo (r. 1776–1800) relocated his father's tomb to a mountain behind the former town of Suwon, well known as the most auspicious site. Crown Prince Sado could not ascend the throne and died a tragic death, as he incurred the hatred of his own father, King Yeongjo (r. 1724–1776); his original tomb was shabby. With the establishment of the new tomb, the town of Suwon was relocated a little bit northward. Suwon was some 30 kilometers away from Changdeokgung Palace, the residence of King Jeongjo. To celebrate the establishment of his father's tomb, King Jeongjo visited the site with his officials and royal family members. In 1759, he celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of his mother, Lady Hyegyeonggung, in a party held in the city. All the grandiose festivities started and ended at Changdeokgung Palace. The ceremony was colorfully drawn and preserved in the form of a folding screen.

Infokorea 2016
Infokorea is Korea introduced a magazine designed for readers with an interest in Korea and other foreign producers textbooks and teachers. Infokorea is the author of textbooks or foreign editors and reference to textbooks, Korea provides the latest information that teachers can use in teaching resources. Infokorea also provides cultural, social and historical topics featured in Korea. The theme of the 2016 issue was overview of Korea's palaces.