조선후기 궁궐의 殿閣 月臺와 의례 — <동궐도>와 <서궐도안>을 대상으로 —

Abstract

Weoldae -which we can find inside Joseon palaces- is usually erected in front of important structures including the Main Hall(Jeongjeon, 正殿). There is no clear definition of its nature that we can find in official law codes or dynastic ritual manuals, and such records do not specify what kind of rules should be observed in creating them either. In illustrations of palaces such as <Dong’gweol-do(東闕圖)> and <Seogweol-do’an(西闕圖案)>, Weoldae can be seen at structures such as the Main “Jeongjeon” Hall(正殿), Royal office(Pyeonjeon, 便殿), Royal Quarters(Jeongchim, 正寢), Queen’s bedroom(Chimjeon, 寢殿), Quarters of the Crown Prince(Dong’gung, 東宮), and other structures. All these structures equipped with a Weoldae were related to special figures inside the royal family such as the king, the queen, the crown prince, and the crown-prince’ son. These figures were literally above the law, and as such their treatment could not be defined by law. And these spaces were where they worked or rested while they lived, and where their posthumous tablets(Shinju, 神主) or portraits(Eojin, 御眞) were enshrined after they died. (When such spaces were used for latter purposes, they were designated either as ‘Honjeon[魂殿, chamber of the tablet]’ or ‘Jinjeon[眞殿, hall of portrait’]). Joseon was a Confucian dynasty with a strict social stratification system, and the palace structures reflected such atmosphere as well. We can see that structures described with Weoldae in <Dong’gweol-do> and <Seogweol-do’an> were structures which were more important than others that did not have a Weoldae. Among structures with Weoldae, the place which hosted most of the dynastic rituals was the Main Hall. In this Main Hall, the King swore an oath himself, passed the incense(香) himself during memorial services, and observed honoring ceremonies[Manbae-rye(望拜禮)] at the “Hwangdan”(皇壇) altar which was built to commemorate the three Ming Emperors. The so-called “Two Palaces[兩闕]” of Joseon shared a unique relationship in terms of their own Weoldae units and the rituals that were held there. In the early half of the Joseon dynasty period, Gyeongbok-gung(景福宮) and Dong’gweol(東闕) constituted the “Two palaces,” but after the war with the Japanese in the 1590s during which the Gyeongbok-gung palace was incinerated, Dong’gweol and Seogweol(西闕) came to newly form the “Two palaces” instead. Meanwhile, Changdeok-gung(昌德宮) became the main palace[法宮], replacing the previous one which had been Gyeongbok-gung. In general, when a king moved to another palace, the ancestral tablets in the Honjeon chamber or the portrait in the Jinjeon hall would accompany him as well. Their presence would be established within the new palace. But king Yeongjo was an exception from that practice. Even after he moved to the Gyeong’hi-gung(慶熙宮) palace, he continued to pay visit to the Jinjeon Hall at Changdeok-gung. While he was positioned inside Gyeong’hi-gung, he did not manage the palace with Gyeonghi-gung as its sole center. He tried to manage other palaces like Changdeok-gung and Chang’gyeong-gung(昌慶宮) as well, and as organically as possible.