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Facebook - Date 2011-06-27
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What is the “Uigwe”?
“Uigwe” means a “model of rituals.” It is a unique collection of Royal Protocols of the over 500 year-long Joseon Dynasty (1392 - 1910), which both records and describes through prose and illustration the major ceremonies and rites of the royal family.
Categorized by time and theme and comprised of over 3,895 books, the Uigwe makes it possible to understand the changes that took place over time in royal ceremonies and allows for detailed comparisons with the other contemporaneous East Asian cultures.
The “Uigwe” started to be produced in the early Joseon Dynasty but many were burned during the Japanese invasion in the 16th century. Among the extant royal records, the Uigwe from King Seonjo in 1601 is the oldest, which describes the procedures of the funeral for Queen Uiin. Most of the royal texts remaining today are from the 19th century.
“Uigwe: The Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty” was registered as the UNESCO Memory of the World in 2007 for its rarity and historical significance.
Scope of the “Uigwe”
Documenting not only the records of all the procedures, formalities and requirements needed to conduct important ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, banquets and receiving foreign missions, the protocols also include details on the construction of royal buildings and tombs as well as other various cultural activities of the royal family.
§ Gilrye (吉禮): Rituals for non-humans, i.e. spirits; mostly involves ceremonies in honor of the dead (Jesa).
§ Garye (嘉禮): Rituals that deal with all types of rites between people. This includes lord-and-vassal rituals performed at the national level, as well as 'Honrye' (marriage ceremony), 'Chaekrye' (investiture) and ceremonies related to relations with
§ Binrye (賓禮): This refers to official banquets sponsored by the royal family for receiving diplomatic missions, usually Chinese envoys.
§ Gunrye (軍禮): This includes such ceremonies as the King's archery outings at a 'Sadan' (archery stand).
§ Hyungrye (凶禮): This is the funeral ritual. For the royal family the Uigwe recorded all the funeral procedures, tomb construction, and the procedures for carrying the ancestral tablet to the shrine for the deceased, including 'Jongmyo' (the ancestral shrine of the Royal family), when the mourning period was over.
§ Others: These include descriptions of such important state functions as the construction of a fortified city (Hwaseong), restoration of royal palaces, compilation of chronicles, and even the installation of 'Taesil' (a stone case for the umbilical cord of a prince).
* The “uigwe” can be categorized in terms of the Orye system (a classification of the rituals of a Confucian state).
Current Locations of the “Uigwe”
§ 297 volumes of 186 kinds that were taken from "Oegyujanggak" during the invasion of Ganghwa-do by a French fleet in 1866 and returned in 2011 are presently in the custody of National Museum of Korea.
§ 2,940 volumes of 546 kinds are presently in the custody of Gyujanggak (奎章閣), Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University.
§ 490 volumes of 287 kinds are presently in the custody of Jangseogak (藏書閣), the Academy of Korean Studies.
§ 145 volumes of 70 kinds that were taken from the Odaesan archive in 1922 under Japanese colonial rule are housed in the Imperial Household Agency of Japan.
What is “Oegyujanggak”?
“Gyujanggak” was established by King Jeongjo at
The Uigwe being kept in the Oegyujanggak was taken during the invasion of
Historical Significance of the “Oegyujanggak Uigwe”
297 volumes of the “Oegyujanggak Uigwe” are organized into 186 types. Among them, 289 volumes are for ‘royal inspection,’ meaning that they were specially designed for kings. Therefore, “Chojuji,” the highest quality paper, was used. Then they were bordered with red lines, bound with a silk cover and used elaborate binding techniques, which included five bored holes with brass reinforcements.
Also, thirty of the 297 volumes are one-of-a-kind, so they have very high cultural and academic value.
Process of the Return of the “Oegyujanggak Uigwe”
The “Oegyujanggak Uigwe” had been stored at the National Library of France without being noticed until Park Byeng-sen, a Korean-French bibliographer who was working at the library, found them wrongly classified as Chinese documents in 1975.
Starting from 1991, the Korean government, scholastic communities and civic groups consistently have been working for the return and finally returned to
Pages from “Garye Dogam Uigwe,” depicting a scene from the royal wedding
of 66-year-old King Yeongjo and his 15-year-old bride Jeongsun of Joseon Dynasty in 1759