This study investigated the type and ceremony object of Nobu(鹵簿, the name of the royal procession) in Goryeo dynasty from the point of view that among the ceremonial equipages which were used in Nobu, a flag and its formation structurally described the royal dignity. Nobu is the procession that describes the royal dignity using the ceremonial equipages. Goryeo autonomously organized and managed Nobu whenever occasion required. Beobga Nobu(法駕鹵簿) as the largest Nobu was used when processing to auspicious rituals such as Wongu, Taemyo and etc..
This study classified the ceremonial equipages used for Nobu into flags, musical instrument and weapons and analyzed them. Flags are categorized middle, left and right flags according to the position and classified large, medium and small flags according to the size and the number of entourage. Beobga Nobu were 20 kinds of large flags, 12 kinds of medium flags and 2 kinds of small flags used.
The ceremonial equipages were the symbols with the meanings. Therefore, they described the existence of an emperor by making a symbolic group, which meant ‘the place where an emperor presents’, combining the symbols. There were two noticeable reasons why the symbolic group was made. It was used for separating the space by describing the royal palace with flags or by appearing the adornment suitable for the royal court in case that the king processed out of the palace or performed national rituals in the court. Through those separations, the ceremonial equipages escorted the king’s body, and Nobu represented the power of the king.
Beobga Nobu, the size and the status were not different from those of Tang or Song. However, the formation and the management had Goryeo’s own originality, which was based on the unique national identity that Goryeo’s thought of inwardly an emperor and outwardly a king was reflected on.
The expression of the majesty of the king differed according to each characteristic of rituals. Confucian rituals were performed in the formation of the flags used the images with Confucian meanings, which was different from Goryeo’s unique national rituals. It might be to show the people that Goryeo’s King had an equal status with Chinese emperor through Nobu. Therefore, Song’s Yongjigidae formation of the flags shown in the formation of the Nobu in Confucian rituals embodied the ideology that Goryeo’s king was a Confucian monarch based on the thought of Providence.