Myo Shrine
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''Myo'' () is a Korean term for Confucian shrines, where the ritual ''
jesa ''Jesa'' (, ) is a ceremony commonly practiced in Korea. Jesa functions as a Ancestor veneration, memorial to the ancestors of the participants. Jesa are usually held on the anniversary of the ancestor's death. The majority of Catholic Church in ...
'' is held. While this concept is nowadays mainly known for the
Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...
dynasty's shrine
Jongmyo Jongmyo () is a Confucian royal ancestral shrine in the Jongno District of Seoul, South Korea. It was originally built during the Joseon period (1392–1897) for memorial services for deceased kings and queens. According to UNESCO, the shrine i ...
in Seoul, its history dates back to the
Three Kingdoms period The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Western Jin dynasty. Academically, the ...
.


History

The character originally encompassed two different meanings; first, it was referring to upper-class house of a noble family, and second, it was also referring to a place where emperor resides, perform rituals, and issues political orders. These various meanings of ''Myo'' later reorganized into referring a place or building where emperor performs ancestral worship rituals. In Korean civilization, concept of ''Myo'' (廟) is mainly known by famous UNESCO heritage Jongmyo shrine built by Joseon dynasty. Yet it is notifiable that, according to historical records, the ''Myo'' concept appears in Korean history first in the
Three Kingdoms period The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Western Jin dynasty. Academically, the ...
. In this early Korean era, while the ''Myo'' was roughly referring to place or building of ritual worship ''
jesa ''Jesa'' (, ) is a ceremony commonly practiced in Korea. Jesa functions as a Ancestor veneration, memorial to the ancestors of the participants. Jesa are usually held on the anniversary of the ancestor's death. The majority of Catholic Church in ...
'', it was not an equal concept to ancetral worship following strict Confucian protocol, which tries to define and categorize exact lineage of ancestors by instructions from Confucian classics. Instead, actual practice of the ''Myo'' in early Korean history was more like a broad concept of place for ancestral worship, ''Sijomyo'' (). Later in Joseon, as architectural term, ''Myo'' was referring to a type of temple building compared to ''Dan'' (壇), a term usually referred to an open altar. Concept of the ''Myo'' shrine (廟) redeveloped in Korean culture has a notable difference from
Miao shrine ''Miao'' () are buildings in traditional East Asian religions enshrining gods, myths or legends, sages of past dynasties, and famous historical figures. They are a kind of Chinese temple architecture and contrast with Ci shrines which ensh ...
(廟) in
Chinese tradition Chinese culture () is one of the world's earliest cultures, said to originate five thousand years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia called the Sinosphere as a whole and is extremely diverse, with custo ...
in its usage. Roughly around
East Asian cultural sphere The Sinosphere, also known as the Chinese cultural sphere, East Asian cultural sphere, or the Sinic world, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically heavily influenced by Chinese culture. The Sinosph ...
, term of
ancestral shrine An ancestral shrine, hall or temple ( or , ; Chữ Hán: ; ), also called lineage temple, is a temple dedicated to deified ancestors and progenitors of surname lineages or families in the Chinese tradition. Ancestral temples are closely li ...
() and family shrine () were originally distinguishable in actual usages, as formers referred to general concept of place for worshiping distant family ancestors or sages, while latters meant place for worshiping relatively close family ancestors. However, when famous Chinense Confucian scholar
Zhu Xi Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confuci ...
suggested replacing the term 家廟 with the broader term 祠堂 in the era of
Southern Song The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending ...
empire, usage of the term 家廟 decreased in Chinese culture. So in Chinese culture, while the term "Miao shrine" became a word relatively confined to a meaning of Confucian shrine dedicated to noble entities such as royal family or famous heroes and sages, the term Cítáng (祠堂) or Ci shrine (祠) became a word that primarily refers to a type of Confucian ancestral shrine for ordinary scholar-official families other than royal family. Yet Koreans kept using term () to describe family ancestral shrine. For example, when Joseon was forcing establishments to adopt the neo-Confucian culture of ''jesa'' in its early era, to drive out influence of Buddhism culture on state governance, the main term used was Gamyo. Even in later era in Joseon, Koreans devised term ''Samyo'' to describe family ancestral shrine with portraits of ancestors, while ''Gamyo'' was referring to typical ancestral shrine with spirit tablets. So in this manner, Koreans widely regarded concept of ''Myo'' shrine as encompassing Jongmyo (as royal ancestral shrine), Munmyo (as Confucian temple for sages) and also Gamyo (as Confucian shrine for families of ordinary scholar-officials).


See also

*
Jongmyo Jongmyo () is a Confucian royal ancestral shrine in the Jongno District of Seoul, South Korea. It was originally built during the Joseon period (1392–1897) for memorial services for deceased kings and queens. According to UNESCO, the shrine i ...
*
Munmyo Munmyo (), also called Seoul Munmyo or Seonggyungwan Munmyo, is Korea's primary temple of Confucius. It is located in central Seoul, South Korea, on the campus of Sungkyunkwan University. Munmyo houses a shrine to Confucius known as Daeseongjeo ...
*
Dongmyo Dongmyo () is a myo shrine in Downtown Seoul, South Korea. It was built in honour of the 3rd century Chinese military commander, Guan Yu. The Joseon government embarked on construction in 1599 and completed the work in 1601. The Wanli Emperor ...
*
Korean Confucianism Korean Confucianism, or Korean Ruism, is the form of Confucianism that emerged and developed in Korea. One of the most substantial influences in Korean intellectual history was the introduction of Confucian thought as part of the cultural influe ...


Notes and references


External links


Encyclopedia of Korean Culture '묘(廟)' (in Korean)
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