This study attempts to shed new light on the military rites of the Joseon dynasty, a topic which related studies have by and large avoided, by analyzing the royal military review ceremony conducted during early Joseon. The term daeyeol (大閱, milita...
This study attempts to shed new light on the military rites of the Joseon dynasty, a topic which related studies have by and large avoided, by analyzing the royal military review ceremony conducted during early Joseon. The term daeyeol (大閱, military review) refers to a royal ceremony in which the Joseon king conducted a direct review of the military forces. This was regarded as a military training ceremony that fell under the category of the ``ritual ceremonies`` that made up the gunnye (軍禮, military rites) portion of the Orye (五禮, Five Rites), or national state rites during Joseon. The structure of the royal military review ceremony was designed to clearly highlight the fact that control over the military was the prerogative of the king and that the latter was also the main actor in such military reviews. The daeyeol (military review) was first implemented during the early reign of King Sejong. The importance of daeyrol was further emphasized during the period spanning from the reign of King Sejong to that of King Seongjeong. As such, the status of the daeyeolui (大閱儀, royal military review ceremony) was eventually upgraded to the point where it was included in the Oryeui (五禮儀, Five Rites) section of the <Sejong sillok (世宗實錄, Annals of King Sejong)>. Thereafter, military training methods underwent great changes before this particular ceremony was included in the <Gukjo oryeui (國朝五禮儀, Five Rites of State≫. The implementation of the royal military review ceremony served two purposes: while was to showcase the Icing`s supreme command over the military, the other was to rally the troops prior to a large-scale military operation. In this regard, the royal military review ceremony was implemented right before the onset of Jurchen conquest campaigns.