• Journal of Korean Historical Folklife
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• no.52
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• pp.197-250
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• 2017

Many kinds of ritual manual books for the four ceremonies (coming-of-age, wedding, funeral, and ancestral rites) were published and transcribed during the Japanese Colonial Period. The ritual manuals are classified by 5 different types: 'ritual standards', 'ritual books for the four ceremonies', 'ritual books for the written prayers', 'religious ceremonial books', and 'general manners books'. All of them contributed much to the formation of folk rituals and religions, even though the purpose and contents of each book were different. The ritual manuals were not intellectual results of elites, but rather compilations of pre-modern ritual books and contemporary manners. These were widely spread among the people with the help of modern printing techniques. The ritual manuals aimed at common readers who wanted to look for ritual references easily. They were not just made for the special upper class. We can understand the contexts and characteristics of folk ritual and religion of the $20^{th}$ century by comprehending the ritual manuals of the Japanese Colonial Rule.