正祖代 國行儀禮로서 厲祭의 설행과 守令 糾察

Abstract

Yŏ-je, a national ritual to defeat the epidemic, was introduced in the process of reorganizing national rituals according to Hongwu-lizhi(洪武禮制) in the early Joseon Dynasty. Originally, ancient Chinese Yŏ-je had been a ritual for Yŏ(厲), the ruling class who had died without descendants, but in both Ming and Joseon, people who died unfortunately was included in the ‘Yŏ=Musaguishin(無祀鬼神)’ category. In this way, Yŏ-je became a ritual symbolizing the king’s generosity(仁政) for the dead, especially for the ruled class. Based on the Confucian perspective on the relationship between politics and disaster, Yŏ-je, like the act of burying the dead, established itself as ye(禮) to prevent future disasters by being generous with the dead. Like his grandfather, King Jeong-jo respected the authority of Kukcho-oryeǔi(國朝五禮儀) and sought to restore the national rituals that had been shrunken after the two wars(兩亂), under the leadership of the powerful king. While the former kings focused on large sacrificial rites(大祀), King Jeong-jo expanded his interest to small sacrificial rites(小祀) such as Yŏ-je. King Jeong-jo thoroughly understood the origin and history of Yŏ-je and adjusted the formality to fit the original intention of Yŏ-je. In Chun-gwan-tong-go(春官通考), a national liturgical book compiled during King Jeong-jo period, it was recorded that King Sukjong himself wrote a prayer and dispatched high officials to perform special Yŏ-je(別厲祭) not only in the northern suburb but also in the eastern, western and southern suburbs. It was also briefly recorded about the sacrificial food of special Yŏ-je held in the three suburbs. The increased number of places of Yŏ-je was worth being recorded to emphasize the generosity of the king. The epitaph of King Jeong-jo read: “King Jeong-jo held Yŏ-je in the four suburbs to do all he can do for his people.” From then on, until the end of the Joseon Dynasty, Yŏ-je repeatedly appeared in epitaphs of the kings like clichés, reproducing the symbol of kings’ generosity. Yŏ-je was designed to be held not only in the capital city but also in the local provinces. Yŏ-je held in the capital city and local provinces were almost the same in terms of dates, places, orders, and sacrifices. But the official in charge of the ritual was different. For the king’s generosity to be realized nationwide through Yŏ-je, each local district magistrate had to perform Yŏ-je by himself. However, concerns continued that local Yŏ-je was not being performed properly, because of private rituals led by indigenous forces. From time to time, some negligent local district magistrates had local functionaries and elders prepare and perform Yŏ-je instead. King Jeong-jo emphasized the local district magistrates’ role in the practice of Local Yŏ-je. He made superior governors supervise the performance of local Yŏ-je, and punished local district magistrates in severe cases. In 1792, King Jeong-jo ordered the altar and ritual utensils to be repaired nationwide. In Mokminsimseo(牧民心書), written by Jeong Yak-Yong, one of Jeong-jo’s best friends, local district magistrates were given not only the duty to perform local Yŏ-je, but also the responsibility to correct the bad customs such as private rituals. In this year, one local district magistrate, Park Ji-Won repaired the local altar and left a record to commemorate it. In 1799, another local district magistrate Jeong Yak-Yong wrote a prayer for local Yŏ-je. From both cases, we can find out that King Jeong-jo’s orders were being carried out at the local level.