조선시대 궁궐 내 금천교의 어원(語源)과 서수(瑞獸)에 대한 연구

Abstract

Geumcheon-Bridge is the first bridge located on the main entrance into the royal places of Joseon. In the society of Joseon where principles of I Ching(易) and Feng-Shui culture were accepted, diverse symbolic meanings were given during the construction of palaces and same applied to the building of Geumcheon-Bridge as well. The name Geumcheon means water that is the basic element of life and the root of all things. As someone with the highest authority in the country, the king who can keep water clean can make life easier for the people and thus gain virtue(德). The stone animals found along the bridge can be assumed to have been placed there as protectors, the guardians of water to keep and manage the stream. The name Geumcheon originates from The Eight Trigrams. The water flowing into the Changdeok-Palace flows to North-West(乾方) which falls into gold(金) of the Five Elements Theory thus the name Geumcheon was given to the stream. Okcheon-Bridge(玉川橋) of Changgyeong-Palace and Jinshahe-River(金水河) in the Forbidden City of China were also named using the same system. The word Geumchoen which started being used in Changdeok-Palace was then introduced into all palaces to refer to the water flowing through them. There are few reasons behind how these waters were given the name Geumcheon. Firstly, the name of the bridge in Gyeongbok-Palace was named after Geumcheon-Bridge and secondly, the bridge was built when King Taejong and Sejong were living in Changdeok-Palace which resulted in the bridge being given familiar name used in Changdoek-Palace. Thirdly, water flowing into Changdeok-Palace and from Gyeongbok-Palace comes from North-West direction in The Eight Triagrams which made it reasonable to give the name Geumcheon to the body of water flowing in Gyeongbok-Palace. The name Geumcheon seems to have become a general name referring to the body of water flowing inside palaces as it was used in both the official palace(junggung) and the secondary palace(igung). This demonstrates a case where culture of a country embraced within the creation process of a vocabulary and shows that the culture of Feng-Shui of the palaces are deeply rooted inside the origin of the name Geumcheon․Okcheon. Such system of thinking is present in both Korean and Chinese societies and can be considered as an important reasoning method in traditional society in East Asia.