From national vision to governing ideology and normative gender image
Joseon's 'order' as seen through six altars

The ideal and reality of 'Yechi' (rites and government) as seen from the history of the establishment of the altar

We often define Joseon as a country of courtesy.
The numerous sacrificial rites established inside and outside the capital city, and the ceremonies meticulously organized in books such as the “National Oryeui,” seem to prove that Joseon was a vassal state that faithfully practiced sajedae (serving great deities) and a Confucian state that thoroughly abolished the practice of yin-yang shrines.
And this obsession with rituals seems to show the Joseon Dynasty's characteristic of 'ideological excess.'
However, this book questions this conventional wisdom and, through the history of the establishment of the Dandan, explores the dynamic relationship between the ideals pursued by Joseon's Yechi and the realities that gave rise to and constrained them.

The altar is a place where sacrifices are made to nature belonging to heaven and earth or to a deity that has been stripped of its personality.
The architectural structure is very simple, with the earth leveled to a certain size and a ceremonial table and a ancestral tablet placed on top to perform rituals. These platforms are positioned inside and outside the city walls, and represent the normative nature of the capital.
The numerous altars, such as Sajikdan located within the city walls, Seonnongdan to the east outside the city walls, Yeojedan and Seonjamdan to the north, and Pungunroewoosancheonseonghwangdan and Usadan to the south… were places where national aspirations were presented and put into practice through the means of ritual.
--- p.8

In order to understand the historical significance of the rhetoric of "vassal states" that Goryeo and Joseon espoused, and the reasons for its normalization, it is necessary to face reality more directly than just ideology.
This is because Joseon's national rituals are not simply a product of ideas, but rather a product of reality that emerged after much deliberation in the midst of fierce political and diplomatic battles.
--- p.24

The first diplomatic relations (with the Ming Dynasty) during the reign of King Gongmin are significant in that they served as a model for Joseon.
The request for the national title of 'Joseon' after the founding of the dynasty, mentioning Gija, and requesting official uniforms and musical instruments at the time of investiture were not decisions made for the first time by the new dynasty, but were strategies with a history dating back over 20 years.
--- p.39

The ‘Shiwang’s system’ was not an authority or standard that the Joseon people blindly followed, but a means of providing the logic that Joseon needed.
In that respect, the old view that 'the understanding of ancient systems deepened and the rites were organized based on ancient systems rather than the Hongwu Rituals during the reign of King Sejong' needs to be reconsidered.
--- p.112

The establishment of an altar for the Usajeon, the creation of six deities equivalent to the rank of Sanggong as objects of sacrifice, the installation of them in the Donggyo, and the determination of the size of the altar were all unprecedented or already forgotten traditions.
In that sense, Joseon's Usadan is in fact a tradition that was created.
--- p.136

The Joseon monarchs… sometimes had to create statues of themselves as a proxy for the people in desperate situations.
The moment he gave up on the supreme being called Hocheonsangje, Taejong, in order to become a monarch who puts prayers into practice for the people, created a new place for 'proper rites', and Seongjong renovated it and moved its location.
--- p.142

Under the goal of reforming the Yuan system, Confucian rituals were no longer perceived as a different culture from the original culture, but rather as a 'tradition' to be pursued.
In it, the exclusive establishment of Confucian rituals was absolutely necessary for the ideological transformation of society, and the Jeokjeon Seonnongdan system was given meaning in terms of being a Confucian ritual for the land.
--- p.164

The gap between the accuracy of the precedents and the reality shown may be a barometer showing the extent of Joseon's national practical ability to practice the rites.
--- p.182

The system of the Taejo era that would have been in the 《Joseon Gyeonggukjeon》 does not remain, but the 〈Sacrificial Rites〉 of the Taejong era are from the Sejong era.
It was maintained for generations until the reign of King Seongjong, when it was called the “National Five Rites.”
Joseon's auspicious rites were established during the reign of King Taejong.
--- p.224

As a result, Joseon's Sajikdan became a very unique altar in its own right.
It is a form of altar that cannot be found in any dynasty in Chinese history, nor in our history or the history of neighboring countries.
While maintaining the principle of halving the Sajikdan of the vassal states, the central Sajikdan of the vassal states, which was different from the local Sajikdan of China, was born in a unique form through the coordination of degree and power.
--- p.231

Since the reign of King Seongjong, royal women have taken upon themselves the duty of remembering and protecting the tradition of the Jojong Law System.
While Confucian dictionaries were based on written records, non-Confucian rituals were based on oral memory and custom.
They responded to criticism of the abuses by actively utilizing the human affection of family love and the discourse of public and private affairs. They also actively accepted Confucian gender roles and created roles and spaces for women in the Joseon royal family.
--- p.288

As mountain and river rites became gender-segregated and royal women took the lead in offering sacrifices, this easily became associated with misogyny within the Confucian patriarchal structure.
Within a complementary structure, male Confucian scholars, who implicitly derived psychological comfort from the female-led shamanistic beliefs, reduced the social responsibility and repercussions of these religious practices by placing the blame entirely on a few female subjects whenever they felt that such practices were problematic.
--- p.299

In 1477 (the 8th year of King Seongjong's reign), King Seongjong performed the first Chinjamrye ceremony.
Here, ‘first’ means not only the first in Joseon, but also the first in our history.
Not only was it never performed in Goryeo, but it was also a ritual that had been discontinued since the Southern Song Dynasty in the Central Plains, the home of the Chinjamrye.
It took about 50 years for the Ming Dynasty in China to establish the Chinjamrye ceremony.
Even considering the Central Plains, the Chinjamrye ceremony of King Seongjong's reign was a rediscovery and re-creation of a tradition that had been cut off for more than two centuries.
--- p.305

In Joseon, the Chinjamrye ceremony was established to actively promote normative gender roles through rituals.
In Joseon society, gender was strictly divided into male and female, and each gender was assigned a unique role and job. The chin-gyeong-rye and chin-jam-rye were examples of this gender division of labor.
--- p.313

In the early Joseon Dynasty, understanding of Neo-Confucianism and ancient Confucianism did not develop gradually or step by step.
As can be seen in the debate over the Sajikdan during the reign of King Sejong, all participants in the debate were already aware of the problems and limitations of the Hongwu Yeje.
It is not that the ministers who participated in the creation of the Taejo era were unaware of the ancient emperors, and they sufficiently considered the ancient emperors, but they simply used the Hongwu era as a means of detour when it was unavoidable.
--- p.330

More important than the power or differential order that proclaimed it here is that it presents a model of legitimacy, and that many people participated in building this model.
This strengthened the legitimacy of the order by making it more natural for those participating in the ritual to accept the model.… It created a political culture in which there was strong pressure to agree on and adhere to norms, even if there were limitations in reality.

--- p.335