In the 20th century, there has been not any unambiguous definition of ‘the Orient' within the stereotypical dichotomy of Oriental and Western world from the angle of tradition and modern, and our world has sought to find out successful social model in the Western culture that orients to simple economic affluence. But recent internal contradictions of Western society have opened up new opportunities to rehighlight oriental thoughts and value systems. And East Asian three major countries, i.e. Korea, China and Japan have shared Confucian and Chinese ideographic culture and have formed their original cultures through mutual cooperations and competitions. That is why these 3 countries are now well recognized in the aspect of their cultural potential worldwide.
These independent cultures become the essence of life from trials and errors that our antecedents have made since long ages ago, and it is landscaping culture that is another unoverlookable precious heritage. Each country and region have developed and preserved a variety of characteristic landscaping cultures under the influence of natural environment, nationality, religion and trend of the times.
However, our world still remains at low awareness about Korean original culture based on the geographical and historical peculiarity of Korea in the boundary of East Asian culture. That is why now is the critical time to establish original identity of Korean landscaping culture.
Before establishing the original identity of Korean landscaping culture, it is necessary to explore Korean landscaping culture in comparison with Chinese and Japanese landscaping culture. Indeed, the essence of landscaping culture can be found from royal palaces in each country. Royal palace is a traditional supreme official and dwelling place for king(monarch) who was the center of every state affair under the rule of dynasty regime. Historically, it has played a symbolic role in forming mental and spatial core of each country, and has also played another role as functional complex to contain national ceremonies, governmental actions and royal household's private activities. Therefore, historical literatures demonstrate that the royal palaces were established by top architectural engineers under the best contemporary technological and financial supports, and royal gardens were the benchmark of contemporary gardens.
Thus, based on the Changdeok Palace, the Forbidden City and Kyoto Imperial Palace as the representative royal palaces of East Asian 3 countries(Korea, China and Japan), this study aims to characterize ideological backgrounds, locations and spatial layout, planting(vegetation) and landscaping components shown in each royal palace, and thereby deduce landscaping characteristics of Korean, Chinese and Japanese royal palace to interpret the original prototype of royal palace landscape architectures, so that it can contribute to establishing the identity of Korean traditional landscape architectures.
To meet the goals above, the royal palaces to be discussed in this study were limited to three East Asian royal architectures, i.e. the Changdeok Palace(Korea), the Forbidden City(China) and Kyoto Imperial Palace(Japan). In this study, these 3 palaces were selected as the most appropriate comparable locations, because all of them were officially used during similar periods - Changdeok Palace(1404～1910), Forbidden City (1406～1924) and Kyoto Imperial Palace(1331～1869) - and were dwelling places of king who was the supreme ruler and symbolic being for each country.
As a part of methodological approach, this study analyzed those palaces through historical literatures and on-site survey, and investigated in the Changdeok Palace mainly based on ‘Donggwoldo(Painting of Eastern Palace)’ which is a good witness of royal life in historical prime days, because this palace remains much damaged.
It was found that ideological backgrounds behind the Changdeok Palace included feng shui theories(Eastern geomantic theories), Confucian ideas, Taoistic ideas, ideas of yin and yang theory and local native religions. The spatial layout of Wehjo(外朝) and Chijo(治朝) in this palace contains many elements related to Confucian ideas, and that of Yeonjo(燕朝) and Huwon(後園) is characterized by manifestation of Taoistic ideas, yin and yang ideas and local native religions. On the other hand, it was found that the ideological backgrounds behind the Forbidden City included feng shui ideas, Confucian ideas, Taoistic ideas, yin yang ideas and nature worship, whereas the Kyoto Imperial Palace was influenced primarily by Taoism which was followed by Buddhistic sukhāvati ideas, feng shui ideas, native(folk) religion and Shinto.
Overall, it is found that feng shui ideas had greatest influence on the location of royal places across all these East Asian three countries, and many elements of Confucian ideas immersed in Kyoto Imperial Palace were influenced by Korean and Chinese culture, while there were various manifestations of Taoistic ideas, yin yang ideas and native religions all across the East Asia three countries. Particularly, it is noted that Korean royal place showed ideological backgrounds comparable significantly with those of Chinese royal place, but Shinto was a differentiated trait shown only in Japanese royal palace. The royal palace of Japan had less elements manifesting Confucian ideas than that of Korea and China.
It was found that these royal palaces across East Asian three countries were originally established in their current location under the influence of feng shui theory, but Korean royal palace was located in hill area, whereas royal palaces of China and Japan were established on the flatland. In terms of spatial layout, it is noted that the Changdeok Palace was designed in form of Sammun Samjo(三門三朝, triple gate and three courts) under the influence of Chinese architecture, but shows its modified forms depending on topography. And it was found that this palace consists of three court areas such as Wehjo, Chijo and Yeonjo, and also complies with traditional architectural principles like Jwamyo Usa(左廟右社, royal sanctuary on left side and national guardian deities shrine on right side) and Jeonjo Huchim(前朝後寢, official space on front side and residential space on rear side). On the other hand, it was found that the Forbidden City complies with traditional Chinese architectural styles, is designed in form of strict bilateral symmetry based on the central axis of south and north, and implements certain layout principles like Omun Samjo(五門三朝, five gates and three courts), Jeonjo Huchim(前朝後寢) and Jwamyo Usa(左廟右社,). Kyoto Imperial Palace is also partially designed in form of Jeonjo Huchim(前朝後寢), because it has an area for ceremonies and events in the south and also has residential area in the north, but this palace is overall designed in form of Chimjeon style(寢殿樣式, shinden-zukuri), which is significant differentiated from royal palaces of Korea and China.
In view of planting(vegetation), it is found that the Changdeok Palace was located in least damaged natural surroundings as possible and had wider green area than other 2 comparable palaces in China and Japan. In Waejo and Chijo area, there were limited plants except for route of entrance to the palace, and it was found that Waejo area is characterized by a pair of same plants laid out around the buildings of royal palace, and Yeonjo and Huwon area contained active vegetation. In case of the Forbidden City, however, it was found that there was not any vegetation found in the three front halls(前三殿), the three rear palaces(後三宮) and Hall of the Norms of Government(皇極殿), but a pair of Chinese Junipers were planted on the right and left side in front of the six western palaces(西六宮) and the six eastern palaces(東六宮). Overall, the Forbidden City had scanty vegetation, but the Imperial Garden(御花園) had most of vegetation in this palace. The major species of vegetation planted in the this royal palace was conifer like Chinese Juniper, Chinese Arborvitae, Japanese Red Pine and Lacebark Pine. On the other hand, it was found that Kyoto Imperial Palace also had paired vegetation in front of major palace buildings, but there were limited plants laid out in the areas for ceremonies and events. Notably, there was a garden in circuit style(回遊式, kaiyushiki) established beside residential and living areas, and this garden contained a variety of seasonal trees. Interestingly, it was found that all of these 3 royal palaces had limited plants in Chijo area for ceremonies and events, and also had parallel or paired vegetation in front of buildings.
In view of characteristics shown in landscaping components, it was found that the Changdeok Palace was comparable with Forbidden City in many elements like space, water, stone, tree(vegetation), architecture and more, but the Changdeok Palace had animal icons(動物像) made in stone, whereas the Forbidden City had them made mostly in bronze. On the other hand, Kyoto Imperial Palace had relatively limited components in comparison with Korean and Chinese royal palace. It was found that differentiated elements of Changdeok Palace were represented by Hwagye(花階, flower steps) and Chuibyeong(翠屛), the Forbidden City had one differentiated characteristic, i.e. layout of various oddly shaped stones(怪石), and Kyoto Imperial Palace was differentiated in the use of natural stones from these 2 royal palaces.
Summing up, it is concluded that there are common and differentiated characteristics in royal palace landscape architecture among Korea, China and Japan, and these characteristics are attributed primarily to political ideology, thoughts and natural perspectives of each country.
Unfortunately, there are conventional related studies focused on Korean royal palace, whereas there are very limited comparative researches into traditional landscape architectures of Korea, China and Japan. However, based on representative royal gardens of Korea, China and Japan, this study sought to compare and examine the cultural characteristics of royal palace landscape architectures in each country according to ideological backgrounds, locations and spatial layout, planting(vegetation) and landscaping components so as to interpret their original prototypes. It also has implications in a sense that it aims to contribute to establishing the identity of Korean traditional landscape architectures. Nevertheless, this study has a limitation in that it fails to survey all areas of each royal palace.
For follow-up studies, it will be necessary to make a series of collaborative researches involving Korea, China and Japan. Hopefully, it is expected that follow-up collaborative studies will be able to collect and analyze data on each royal palace without problems and thereby will contribute to a little better interpretation on original prototype of royal palace landscape architectures conserved in each country.