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Uigwe
Uigwe (Korean: 의궤; Hanja: 儀軌) is the generic name given to a collection of approximately 3,895 books recording in detail the royal rituals and ceremonies of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. There is no generally agreed English translation for the title of the work; some scholars suggest "book of state rites", while the Glossary of Korean Studies from the Korea Foundation suggests "manual of the state event" or "rubrica for a state ceremony." The expression "Royal Protocols" (of the Joseon Dynasty) is widely used.
The collection of Uigwe was inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register in 2007, recognising it as documentary heritage of global importance.
The term "Uigwe" is not easily translated. It refers to a collection of rites, protocols, codes and rules. Thus, the Joseon Sijeong Uigwe are the “Protocols” or legal “Code” of the Joseon Sijeong. The Joseon Sijeong Uigwe was compiled under the reign of King Sejong (ruled 1418 to 1450).
King Sejong is credited for organizing a body of scholars that consolidated, refined and codified various laws, practices, beliefs and the accepted Confucius systems into law. The Joseon Sijeong Uigwe was compiled into an volumes, similar, to a modern encyclopedia. Volumes included comprehensive criminal, civil, administrative and tax laws.
Combining text and detailed illustrations, each Uigwe preserves the records of the Superintendency (dogam), set up temporarily to plan and carry out special state rites. These rites included investitures, coronations, weddings, banquets, the painting of royal portraits, funerals and ancestral rites. Each Uigwe, some in several volumes with several copies, was written either by hand but more often printed using woodblocks for the History Archive copies. Most of the Uigwe, had one exclusive edition for the king, distinguished by silk covers, high quality paper, binding, superior handwriting and overall presentation, was intended to serve as the royal viewing copy. The silk covers used exclusively for the king were made of quality silk, had superior patterns often of clouds, and usually had red decorations around its borderline. Four to nine other copied version for scholars were kept for each of the four state archives, which for most of the Joseon period were located on Mount Jeongjoksan on Ganghwa-do Island; Mount Jeoksang in Muju-gun County, Jeollabuk-do Province; Mount Odaesan in Gangwon-do Province and Mount Taebaeksan in Yeongwol-gun County. The Uigwe for funerals and weddings includes large and detailed images of processions, often involving thousands of participants.
In 1782, the Outer Gyujanggak library (known as Oe-Gyujang-gak) was built in the ancient royal palace on Ganghwa-do Island to accommodate an overflow of books from the main Gyujanggak library at Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul, where the royal viewing copies were kept, and most of the viewing copies were transferred there. In 1866, after the execution of a number of French Catholic missionaries in Korea, a French expeditionary force came from China to seek explanations, resulting in the French campaign against Korea. Unable to gain access to the authorities, the troops attacked Ganghwa-do Island and seized the royal books, along with a vast amount of silverware and other royal artifacts. The books were kept at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris soon after their arrival in France. They were largely forgotten until Korean scholar, Park Byeongseon, discovered them in 1975, whilst working there as a librarian.
Following the discovery, the return was officially requested in 1992. In 1993, then-French President François Mitterrand returned one copy during a visit to Seoul to sell its high-speed TGV train technology; with the promised to return the remaining collection. The Korean Government tried to retrieve the royal documents through a permanent lease, since French law prohibits national assets to be transferred abroad. In 2010, a Seoul-based civic group spearhead the return but the request to exclude illegally obtained property from its list of national assets was rejected by a Paris court.
After a series of long disputes and negotiations, an agreement was made by President Lee Myung-bak and President Nicolas Sarkozy at the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit to return the documents on a five-year renewable loan basis. From April to June 2011, 297 volumes with 191 different Uigwes, were shipped back in four separate installments.
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Uigwe
Uigwe (Korean: 의궤; Hanja: 儀軌) is the generic name given to a collection of approximately 3,895 books recording in detail the royal rituals and ceremonies of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. There is no generally agreed English translation for the title of the work; some scholars suggest "book of state rites", while the Glossary of Korean Studies from the Korea Foundation suggests "manual of the state event" or "rubrica for a state ceremony." The expression "Royal Protocols" (of the Joseon Dynasty) is widely used.
The collection of Uigwe was inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register in 2007, recognising it as documentary heritage of global importance.
The term "Uigwe" is not easily translated. It refers to a collection of rites, protocols, codes and rules. Thus, the Joseon Sijeong Uigwe are the “Protocols” or legal “Code” of the Joseon Sijeong. The Joseon Sijeong Uigwe was compiled under the reign of King Sejong (ruled 1418 to 1450).
King Sejong is credited for organizing a body of scholars that consolidated, refined and codified various laws, practices, beliefs and the accepted Confucius systems into law. The Joseon Sijeong Uigwe was compiled into an volumes, similar, to a modern encyclopedia. Volumes included comprehensive criminal, civil, administrative and tax laws.
Combining text and detailed illustrations, each Uigwe preserves the records of the Superintendency (dogam), set up temporarily to plan and carry out special state rites. These rites included investitures, coronations, weddings, banquets, the painting of royal portraits, funerals and ancestral rites. Each Uigwe, some in several volumes with several copies, was written either by hand but more often printed using woodblocks for the History Archive copies. Most of the Uigwe, had one exclusive edition for the king, distinguished by silk covers, high quality paper, binding, superior handwriting and overall presentation, was intended to serve as the royal viewing copy. The silk covers used exclusively for the king were made of quality silk, had superior patterns often of clouds, and usually had red decorations around its borderline. Four to nine other copied version for scholars were kept for each of the four state archives, which for most of the Joseon period were located on Mount Jeongjoksan on Ganghwa-do Island; Mount Jeoksang in Muju-gun County, Jeollabuk-do Province; Mount Odaesan in Gangwon-do Province and Mount Taebaeksan in Yeongwol-gun County. The Uigwe for funerals and weddings includes large and detailed images of processions, often involving thousands of participants.
In 1782, the Outer Gyujanggak library (known as Oe-Gyujang-gak) was built in the ancient royal palace on Ganghwa-do Island to accommodate an overflow of books from the main Gyujanggak library at Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul, where the royal viewing copies were kept, and most of the viewing copies were transferred there. In 1866, after the execution of a number of French Catholic missionaries in Korea, a French expeditionary force came from China to seek explanations, resulting in the French campaign against Korea. Unable to gain access to the authorities, the troops attacked Ganghwa-do Island and seized the royal books, along with a vast amount of silverware and other royal artifacts. The books were kept at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris soon after their arrival in France. They were largely forgotten until Korean scholar, Park Byeongseon, discovered them in 1975, whilst working there as a librarian.
Following the discovery, the return was officially requested in 1992. In 1993, then-French President François Mitterrand returned one copy during a visit to Seoul to sell its high-speed TGV train technology; with the promised to return the remaining collection. The Korean Government tried to retrieve the royal documents through a permanent lease, since French law prohibits national assets to be transferred abroad. In 2010, a Seoul-based civic group spearhead the return but the request to exclude illegally obtained property from its list of national assets was rejected by a Paris court.
After a series of long disputes and negotiations, an agreement was made by President Lee Myung-bak and President Nicolas Sarkozy at the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit to return the documents on a five-year renewable loan basis. From April to June 2011, 297 volumes with 191 different Uigwes, were shipped back in four separate installments.
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