• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.233-252
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• 2021

The Gwan ceremony (冠禮) is a coming-of-age ceremony that takes place through traditional Gwan (冠: the hat) and clothes in the traditional era. The rite is performed by wearing hats and clothes three consecutive times (三加禮). It was an important rite which meant that underage children were formally recognized as members of society. This study examined costumes of people who participated in various coming-of-age ceremony rites in the Ming dynasty imperial court of China. For the research data, this study mainly used authentic chronicles (正史), codes of law and books on Ming dynasty rituals. This study examined the costumes used in the coming-of-age ceremony for the emperor, Prince Imperial, Emperor's eldest grandson, and emperor's sons. The results of this study were divided into an analysis of the document structure, institutional changes by time, characteristics of costumes, and characteristics of the rite. Of particular note in their ceremony, the emperor is presupposed to be a 'human already full-equipped with virtue', which means that the costume is worn only once. It is a case in which the emperor's absolute identity is revealed through the rite and costume.