The original purpose of a funeral is to express sorrow for the deceased, which therefore the National Funeral Ceremony is to represent sorrow for the royal family and its retainers in form of the national ritual. The Joseon Dynasty organized the natio...
The original purpose of a funeral is to express sorrow for the deceased, which therefore the National Funeral Ceremony is to represent sorrow for the royal family and its retainers in form of the national ritual. The Joseon Dynasty organized the national ritual structure into a composition of five rituals. Aside from its original purpose, the function of funeral ritual in the structure of The Five National Rituals 《國朝五禮儀》 also serves to secure and realize the dignity of the nation and the legitimacy of the royal family.
The first national funeral of the Joseon Dynasty was for the Queen Shindeok the wife of the King Taejo, which served as an example for the King Taejo's funeral. The procedures of Queen Shindeok's funeral were based on the procedures of Confucianism. In case of practicing the Buddhism-style funeral, only a partial procedure was practiced to pray for the soul of the deceased. Also, the three-year mourning period was first practiced by the crown prince Bangseok.
The script of the ceremony in the early days of the Joseon Dynasty era was based on the Hong Mu Yeh Jeh 《洪武禮制》 and the Joseon Dynasty utilized and applied it depending on different situations and circumstances. In order to resolve some of the deficiencies with the script, King Taejong asked the Ming Dynasty in China to send their version of the Hong Mu Yeh Jeh 《洪武禮制》 but the Ming Dynasty rejected his request with the reason that Chinese ceremonies were not to be practiced in foreign countries. Under the King Taejong’s reign, the Joseon Dynasty was in a situation where it had to research the ceremonies on their own and in the midst of speculation by the Ming Dynasty.
Before King Sejong’s reign, the national funeral ceremony for the king in the early Joseon Dynasty took a unique form of a national ceremony for a king who relinquished his kingship. This was because of the unusual situation where the rule of first son ascending to the throne was ignored. During King Seongjong’s reign, the law and the rules for the ceremonies were completed. In the book of The Five National Rituals 《國朝五禮儀》, four additional rituals for the Ming emperor were added so that it was clearly stipulated that it was a national ceremony for the royal family and its retainers.
Looking into the funeral procedures by time base, there are 4 rituals; firstly, clean and shroud the deceased(歛襲儀禮), secondly, house the coffin at a designated place(殯殿儀禮), thirdly, the coffin leaves the place(發靷儀禮), lastly, move to the shrine(魂殿儀禮). A funeral for the royal family had a moment of succession of national sovereignty. A posthumous name from the Ming Dynasty was granted into the shrine by courtiers and by this, the deceased was worshiped as ancestor god of the royal family.
The discussion of rituals during the mid Joseon Dynasty was focused on the study regarding details and philosophical system in order to perfect performance of procedures stipulated in The Five National Rituals 《國朝五禮儀》. The condition for internal maturity of Neo-Confucianism was continued along the line of Tweh-Gye school and further to a school that had a direct influence to the change in the ceremony for and by the King and the crown prince. The discussion of rituals during the mid Joseon Dynasty was done through ceremonial books by scholars in the Joseon Dynasty.
In the 16th century, the Buddhism-style rituals completely disappeared and it signifies inviolable area called ‘The Royal Ceremony’ didn't exist anymore. Cheon-Ha-Dong-Rye (天下同禮), meaning everyone including the king and his family will follow the same rules of ritual, was established and practiced from this point and onward. The practice of the three-year mourning period was persistently asked by the Seo-in (庶人)but it was not legalized in the end for the reasons related in reality. But instead, the Seo-in (庶人) compromised to practice the three-year mourning period only among themselves. More detailed discussions regarding rituals of funeral were done as well.
Looking into the internal aspects of ceremonies in the 17th century, due to ups and downs in history, including attack from a foreign country and faithfulness to the Ming Dynasty there were changes in important rituals in funeral and memorial ceremonies. At the time, there were two different world of Emperors established in China and Joseon were divided in discussion which in China is the one that Joseon is supposed to show respect to. This triggered the changes in rituals of Joseon's national ceremony as a result. In the 17th century, there were a number of unusual rituals caused by the circumstances in and out of the country that was not in The Five National Rituals 《國朝五禮儀》 or from different interpretation of the book.
Looking into the changes in rituals from the early to mid Joseon era, until a new ritual was established, the discussions came first and the study followed and then this was led to the law. In result, this was applied to reality, the structure of rituals were being constantly changed into a new structure as time goes by.
In the late Joseon Dynasty, the changes in rituals were put in shape to new rituals and the related law. A king figure, as an intermediary of party strife, was standing out during Sookjong's reign. The king suggested that Joseon keep faithful to the fallen Ming Dynasty, interconnecting with the argument to seek revenge on the Qing Dynasty. The incident that Sookjong built a shrine for Chinese kings of the Ming Dynasty(1704) led to a significant change in Joseon's funeral and memorial ceremonies. Under the King Sookjong’s reign, rituals of the royal family were organized based on Neo-Confucianism (朱子性理學) and the agreement on mourning dresses of sovereign and subject was reached.
King Youngjo handled the relations with the Qing Dynasty more flexibly and toward the end of his reign, he emphasized faithfulness to Qing by putting weight on the shrine for the fallen Ming emperor. However this was after the Ming Dynasty was already toppled by Qing but King Youngjo still thought of Ming's era as Joseon's spiritual leader. As soon as King Youngjo proclaimed the legitimacy of his kingship, he started publishing the books on rituals. The book published in 20th year of his reign, Sequel to the Five National Rituals 《國朝續五禮儀》 properly adopted all the changes that came up since the mid Joseon period. King Youngjo had seen national funeral ceremonies spanning five generations during his 52 year reign since he went into throne at the age of 31. As a result, a number of changes came up that new rituals need to be applied. Therefore he organized rituals in funeral ceremony by publishing Revised edition of the Guide to the National funerals 《國朝喪禮補編》 and completed Joseon's rituals. With his determination, Joseon's rituals were perfected through Sequel to the Five National Rituals 《國朝續五禮儀》 and Revised edition of the Guide to National funerals.《國朝喪禮補編》
After Youngjo, th ere had been efforts to further organize details on rituals but didn't see its completion.
This text left us missing the unfinished work in late Joseon era together with national ceremonies after king Soon Jo. Let us leave this for later study.