Abstract
During the Joseon Dynasty, the rituals that were celebrated in the palaces were mainly held inside the palace and in the courtyard of the palace. Mats were spread on the floor of the place where the ritual was held. The mats spread in the Joseon Dynasty rituals divided the space in various ways, and in particular, they were spread in a certain form in the spaces of royal wedding, customs, and court banquet. Mats were the primary physical element that divided the royal ritual space of the Joseon Dynasty, and functioned to elevate the general space to the ritual space. In the ritual space, mats were spread inside the palace, and divided the courtyard of the palace into left and right in a symmetrical form to distinguish the hierarchy of the participants. Mats with special and white patterns were spread in the external ceremonial space and mats with flower and colorful patterns were spread in the internal ceremonial space. This was the subdivision of the Confucianism's male-female division through the mat. The pattern of the mat that divided the space of the royal family elders also meant longevity to reflect the filial thoughts of the Confucianism through the mat. Mats were a physical element for subdividing the royal family and the participants in the hierarchy of the space where the ritual is held, and it also performed a subdividing function between the royal participants. In other words, in the Joseon Dynasty ritual space, mats were temporarily spread while the ritual is being celebrated and functioned to elevate the space to a ritual space. It is confirmed that the fact that the mats were temporarily spread to divide the space into the hierarchies according to the status and were subdivided into colors and patterns to perform the function to reflect the subdivision of the royal family according to Confucianism and the statue of filial piety in the ritual.