Seoul City Reenacts Gate Guard Ceremony at Sungnyemun... First Reenactment of 'Opening and Closing Ceremony'

One-Month Advance Reservation for Citizens to Participate in 'Namdaemun Hopae Nori' with Kim Seonbi
'Gatekeeper Costume Experience' and 'Reenactment of Gungseongmun Stories' Based on the Historical Significance of Sungnyemun

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government will hold a reenactment event of the fortress city ‘Guarding Ceremony’ where citizens can experience the historical significance of Hanyang, the capital of Joseon for 500 years, at Sungnyemun, along with citizen participation programs such as ‘Hopae Play’.

On the 14th, Seoul announced that as part of the reenactment event of the ‘Guarding Ceremony,’ a military ritual defending the fortress walls of Hanyang during the Joseon Dynasty, it will hold for the first time the fortress gate ‘Opening and Closing Ceremony,’ a procedure where the gate guards open and close the Sungnyemun gate. Additionally, various side and experiential events such as ‘Hopae Play and Guard Corps Experience’ will be operated, allowing citizens to understand Joseon-era customs and enjoy national treasure cultural assets up close, using the symbolism of Sungnyemun as a backdrop.

The Joseon-era guarding (basu) ceremony consisted of the ‘Opening and Closing Ceremony’ of the fortress gates, the ‘Guarding Ceremony,’ the ‘Patrolling Ceremony,’ and the ‘Guard Corps Shift Ceremony,’ which together formed the procedures to defend the entire fortress city. It was a military ritual as important as the royal palace guard ceremony. To utilize this intangible heritage of the nation, Seoul has restored and reproduced military equipment from the Yeong and Jeongjo periods, the cultural renaissance era of Joseon, and since 2005 has held events reenacting the ‘Guarding and Patrolling Ceremonies’ of the guard corps protecting the fortress gates and surroundings at Sungnyemun.

In particular, the Sungnyemun Opening and Closing Ceremony, which will be additionally held from the 15th, is the first reenactment based on Joseon-era historical records such as the ‘Daejeontongpyeon,’ and through expert consultation, it will be offered as a high-quality spectacle completing the Joseon military ritual.

For a month, a citizen participation event called ‘Hopae Play: Open Namdaemun, Namdaemun, Namdaemun’ will also be held on weekends. Participants make a hopae, a Joseon-era identification tag, show it to the guard captain, and experience passing through Sungnyemun. Participants will receive a hopae and a small souvenir.

In addition, various ongoing side events are planned where citizens can experience the historical significance of the Sungnyemun Guarding Ceremony and take pride in Korean culture. In April, there will be a ‘One Day! Guard Corps Experience’ where participants can directly experience the gate guard’s costume and rituals. Every Saturday in May and October, there will be ‘Traditional Martial Arts Demonstrations’ by soldiers of the Training Command belonging to the Three Military Camps who protected Hanyang Fortress, including Sungnyemun. In October, non-face-to-face participation events such as ‘Making Guard Corps Doll Costumes’ and the ‘Sungnyemun Online Coloring Contest’ will be promoted. Special events include the ‘Sungnyemun Guarding Ceremony Night Week’ held on hot summer nights in August and the reenactment of ‘Seonropo-ui and Heon-gok-ui,’ stories of Joseon-era palace gates, planned for October.

Lee Hee-sook, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Historical Cultural Heritage Division, said, “We planned this so that citizens can enjoy the heritage of Seoul, a city with 2,000 years of history, close to their daily lives through the guard corps’ guarding ceremony and traditional cultural experiences based on the historical significance of Sungnyemun.” She added, “We hope this will raise pride in national culture and serve as an opportunity for the city center, which has been stagnant due to COVID-19, to regain vitality.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.