Our ancestors recognized the placenta as the life line which grows the fetus. After the birth of a baby, the placenta was treated very valuable as it was thought to determine the future of the baby. In the past, when a baby was born in a royal family, its placenta was buried in a propitious site and the placenta chamber was constructed. The placenta was treated preciously as it was considered not only the life line but also the beginning of the baby’s life in this world. The placenta chamber is a facility which is constructed in a summit of the small mountain where the placenta is buried under the ground after the specified rituals and procedures. As it looks like a tomb, it is also called as the placenta tomb, or placenta chamber tomb. The origin of the placenta chamber started with Kim Yu-Shin, a general in ancient Silla dynasty in Korea. At the time, the commoners also constructed their placenta chambers. The royal family started the placenta chamber construction during the Goryeo dynasty. During the Goryeo dynasty, the placenta chambers were constructed and maintained for kings and princes. However, in the Joseon dynasty, not only for kings but in terms of the people for which they were constructed and size, the culture of making the placenta chambers expanded and this tradition has been passed down to the present. During Joseon Dynasty, the birth of the child in royal family was believed to have close ties with the nation's prosperity. Therefore, the procedure of giving birth to a royal baby was ritualized. It was believed at the time that if the placenta of a royal baby is well buried and protected, the baby would have a healthy and long life. Therefore, it was important to select an ideal location for the construction of placenta chambers across the nation per the Fengshui ideology. In this respect, the placenta chamber constructed during the Joseon Dynasty is an important cultural heritage in Korea, from which we can understand the respect for life by our ancestors. During the Joseon Dynasty, the scope and procedure for the construction of the placenta chambers for the royal family was systemized from its beginning. King Sejong expanded the scope of the people for whom the placenta chambers were constructed from just the king and crown prince to king and all princes. King Seongjong expanded the scope to include his daughters. The rituals for the placenta was systematically established at the time of King Sejong. In addition, the location of the placenta chamber was selected according to Fengshui ideology similar to tombs. But unlike the location for tombs which was selected according to the grave geomancy, a location that bulges over the surface of the earth was selected as the ideal place for the placenta chamber. Such placenta chambers were predominantly concentrated in the lower three provinces of Korean peninsula during the early Joseon dynasty. But during the later Joseon dynasty, the chambers were constructed across the nation except for Pyeongan-do and Hamgyeong-do provinces. As the placenta chambers were installed for all princes and princesses, the space became limited so a newly improved plan was implemented- multiple placenta chambers were constructed on the summit of a single ridge. Unlike the baby placenta chambers for prince and princesses during the time, the king placenta chambers was constructed for the kings only. As for the former case, when a baby was born from the royal family, the placenta was put into the pot along with the stone describing the placenta, coin, and gold and silver plates to wish for the long and healthy life of the baby and prosperity of its descendants. Then, all these were put into the stone chamber for burial before the small soil mound was constructed. In front of it, the memorial stone inscribed with the date of construction was erected. As many placenta chambers were constructed as the number of the princes and princess during Joseon Dynasty. 200 chambers have been preserved and passed down to date. On the other hand, king chambers were constructed in commemoration of the coronation of the crown prince to the king. It was constructed in place of the baby placenta chamber. It was constructed in a way that the soil mound for the baby placenta chamber was flattened and the memorial stone for the baby placenta chamber was buried in the soil and then the king's placenta chamber was constructed with the addition of memorial stone decoration. Instead of the soil mound, the central placenta stone was erected and the octagonal rail stones were constructed around it and the memorial stone showing the king's placenta chamber was erected in place of the baby placenta chamber. Most of the king's placenta chambers for 27 kings who ruled Korea during 513 years of Joseon Dynasty still remains to date. These chambers have both the baby placenta chambers which were constructed when the crown prince baby was born and the king's placenta chamber which was constructed when the crown prince became a king. As these placenta chambers are the memorial remains of birth and coronation of the kings with the accurate dates on them, they hold very important historic values. 27 placenta chambers for the kings during Joseon Dynasty which remain were analyzed. They can be classified to 4 periods with respect to the structure, shape, and decoration of the pot of baby placenta chamber, memorial stone for the baby placenta chamber, and memorial stone and central placenta stone of kings' placenta chambers. The stone structures during Joseon Dynasty such as the baby memorial stone at the baby placenta chamber, and the central placenta stone, tetragonal stone, octagonal rail stone and memorial stone of the king's placenta chambers were similar to the stone structures for the royal tomb in their forms. The stone structures of the placenta chambers for the royal family in Joseon Dynasty can be divided into 4 periods. The early period, middle period, late period and ending period in its process of development. Especially, as these structures are consistent with the development flow of the history of pottery and the stone decoration of royal tombs in Joseon Dynasty, it is more likely that they receive more spotlight for future studies. Especially, the placenta chamber for the 13th king Myeongjong in the middle period of the Joseon Dynasty represents the 16th century kings’ placenta chamber. As it kept its original form at Taebong-ri, Seosan-si, Chungnam, Korea, it is very valuable in the study of the history of the placenta chambers. King Myeongjong was born between King Jungjong and queen Munjeong in 1534 and his placenta chamber was constructed in 1538. As he was coronated to be 13th king of Joseon in 1545, his coronation was commemorated by constructing the king's placenta chamber. In 1546, the central placenta stone and the rail stone were erected over his baby placenta chamber and then the memorial stone for the king's placenta chamber was also erected to commemorate the coronation. In the period of King Sukjong, or 200 years after the construction, the memorial stone for the king's placenta chamber was damaged. So, in 1711, the memorial stone was installed after renovation of the damaged king's placenta chamber. As such, the procedures of the construction of King Myeongjong's placenta chambers and the subsequent management of it are well described in many ancient documents including "Annals of Joseon Dynasty" and "Registry of Placenta Chambers". These documents show that the national government had closely managed the King Myeongjong's placenta chamber. Due to the close interests in keeping the King Myeongjong's placenta chamber and its related stoneworks intact, it is still located at the original location and holds historic value. Even 500 years after its construction, it is still well preserved and has the aesthetic and artistic values. The stone remains for King Myeongjong can be grouped into three sets of memorial stones of placenta chambers and three types of stone structures for the placenta chamber. The former was analyzed by comparing them with the tombstones of the early and late Joseon Dynasty while the latter were compared with the stone structure of the royal tombs constructed at the same period to find out the characteristics of the period. The results are as follows. First, the memorial stones for the Myeongjong's placenta chamber include three structures: the baby placenta chamber's memorial stone, king's placenta chamber's memorial stone and the memorial stone for renovation. These three sets of memorial stones were compared with the placenta chamber for 7th king Sejo in early Joseon Dynasty and the tombstone of 22nd king Jeongjo with the respect to the characteristics of the period. First, the baby placenta chamber shows the changes in the structure and decoration by period. The baby placenta chamber of King Sejo, during the early Joseon Dynasty has the head of the tombstone and the front of the tombstone and the pad of the tombstone as a single structure. On the other hand, those for King Myeongjong and King Jeongjo have them separated between the upper and lower parts and independent head of the tombstone. In addition, the head of tombstone for King Sejo has the chaffered corners and the pattern of grasses while those for King Myeongjong and King Jeongjo have the pattern of lotus flowers on the half round head of the tombstone. In the baby placenta chamber for King Jeongjo, there is a big branch of lotus, which was lost for King Myeongjo. All pads of the placenta chambers are in rectangular shape while that for King Jeongjo was recently renovated. The king's placenta chamber also changed with time, early, and mid- and late- Joseon periods with the shape and pattern of the bottom, body and top of the memorial stone. The memorial stone for King Sejo has the shape of the turtle lying face down with the six-sided patterns while its top part is carved with two dragons on the front side. Those for King Myeongjong and King Jeongjo have the enhanced head of turtles and the lotus leaf and six-sided patterns on the back of the turtles with the two dragons on the top of the stone facing each other looking like the struggle to get the cintamani. In the body of the stone, that of King Myeongjong has the letters "King's Placenta" on the front and the year system of China and the day and year of the construction on the back. On the other hand, the king's placenta chamber for King Myeongjong was repaired during the period of King Sukjong, thus showing more characteristics of late Joseong period then that of mid-Joseong period. Second, the stone structure for the placenta chamber for King Myeongjong consists of rail, pad and main body. The number and size of stone decorations were less than those for the royal tombs. But, there were many similarities in the structure and shape. They were compared with the royal tombs for 12th king Injeong and 13th King Myeongjong. First of all, the rail and the pad of the stone structure of the placenta chamber were the same with those for the royal tombs with respect to the structure. They consist of main stone, small stone, and bamboo stone in the rain stone. As for the pad stone, there were similarities in shape and pattern but there were differences in size and details of the shape. When the central placenta stone of the king's placenta chamber is compared with the lantern in the royal tombs, they are similar in the shape and to the upper and lower stones but due to the difference in the usage, they showed difference in the central parts. As described above, the stone structures of the placenta chamber for King Myeong which was constructed during the mid-Joseon dynasty were researched by comparing them with the royal tombs. I hope this study would contribute to activation of more research on the placenta chambers and through more active studies on these cultural remains, the placenta chambers for the kings during the Joseon Dynasty gain more interests and more of them registered as the world cultural heritage. ，韩语论文，韩语论文题目 |
