A study on the changing patterns of Manjeon, a temporary wooden structure from the royal inner banquet stage in the late Joseon period

Abstract

In the late Joseon period, banquets were held in the form of outer banquets and inner banquets in the court. The stage structure for the royal banquets was located in a variable facility in the courtyard of the royal palace. The inner banquet tended to have more diverse variable facilities on the banquet stage than the outer banquet. The components of the inner banquet stage created in the court can be classified into bogye, a temporary floor structure; red blinds and gapjang, temporary wall structures; manjeon, a temporary house structure; and an awning. Specifically, there was a manjeon wooden structure, the main variable facility, installed up against the royal palace on the bogye of the court stage. The manjeon on the bogye facilitated the installation of wall structures, and it was critical to creating a stable stage for the banquet. It also facilitated the installation of an awning. This temporary wooden structure appeared mainly at inner banquets for the dowager queen. Its primitive form was a neungsangyuawning. The initial form of manjeon appeared in the time of King Sunjo. The duration of the banquets increased with the appearance of the next-day banquet, where the prince was the guest of honor. Consequently, a robust structural form was established to ensure the stable installation of variable facilities on the royal inner banquet stage. This appeared as gakjangbumanjeonawning, the initial form of the manjeon structure, on the inner banquet stage. Gakjangbumanjeonawning is a type of variable wooden structure that was most commonly found at inner banquets from King Sunjo's era until the time of King Gojong. Furthermore, from the King Heonjong period, the frequency of banquets increased due to the next-day night banquets. As a result, the manjeon wooden structure needed to become more durable. From King Gojong's time on, the royal banquets expanded to include day-after night banquets if the guest of honor was a king, prince, or dowager queen, and the banquet stage underwent structural development. In the late Joseon period, the power of the royal family was reflected in the banquets, resulting in changes to the structures. The increase in the number of banquet days based on the guests of honor led to a change in the house-style manjeon wooden structure on the bogye among the inner banquet facilities into a rain awning structure and three-sided manjeon. In other words, royal inner banquets in the late Joseon period were developed and established by defining a banquet style that reflected the royal hierarchy and by changing the court stage accordingly. In conclusion, the temporary house-type manjeon wooden structures, among the temporary facilities comprising the royal inner banquet stage, changed from an awning structure to a manjeon structure in the late Joseon dynasty, and was later changed into a rain awning structure and three-sided manjeon during King Gojong's reign. These are the characteristics of the royal inner banquet stage, which is considered to have been changed based on the guest of honor and period.