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| Temple name | |||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 廟號 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 庙号 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | miếu hiệu | ||||||||||||||||
| Chữ Hán | 廟號 | ||||||||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 묘호 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 廟號 | ||||||||||||||||
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Temple names are posthumous titles accorded to monarchs of theSinosphere for the purpose ofancestor worship.[1] The practice of honoring monarchs with temple names began during theShang dynasty in China and had since been adopted by otherdynastic regimes in the Sinosphere, with the notable exception of Japan. Temple names should not be confused withera names (年號),regnal names (尊號) orposthumous names (謚號).
Modern academia usually refers to the following rulers by their temple names:Chinese monarchs from theTang to theYuan dynasties,Korean rulers of theGoryeo (until AD 1274) andJoseon dynasties, andVietnamese rulers of theLý,Trần, andLater Lê dynasties (with theHồ andLater Trần dynasties as exceptions).
Numerous individuals who did not rule as monarch during their lifetime were posthumously elevated to the position of monarch by their descendants and honored with temple names. For example,Cao Cao was posthumously honored as an emperor and given the temple nameTaizu byCao Pi of theCao Wei dynasty. Meanwhile, several individuals who were initially assigned temple names had their titles revoked, as was the case forEmperor Huan, whose temple name,Weizong, was abolished byEmperor Xian of theEastern Han dynasty. In other cases, numerous individuals were honored with more than one temple name by intentional changes or being accorded different titles by different individuals. For instance, theYongle Emperor of theMing dynasty was originally honored asTaizong by theHongxi Emperor, but his temple name was later amended toChengzu by theJiajing Emperor. There were also instances of individuals ruling as the sovereign of a particular realm but being accorded a temple name by another realm, as was the case forMöngke of theMongol Empire, who was later honored asXianzong byEmperor Shizu of theYuan dynasty.
The "temple" in "temple name" (廟號) refers to the grand temples (太廟) built by each dynasty for the purpose of ancestor worship. The temple name of each monarch was recorded on their respective ancestral tablet placed within the grand temple.
Temple names trace their origins to the Shang dynasty of China. In earlier times, temple names were exclusively assigned to competent rulers after their death.
The temple name system established during the Shang period utilized only four adjectives:
Chinese monarchs of theZhou dynasty were given posthumous names but not temple names. During theQin dynasty, the practices both of assigning temple names and posthumous names was abandoned. TheHan dynasty reintroduced both titles, although temple names were assigned sporadically and remained more exclusive than posthumous names. It was also during the Han era that other adjectives aside from the four listed above began appearing in temple names. Numerous Han emperors had their temple names removed by Emperor Xian of Han, Liu Xie, in AD 190.
Initially, in deciding whether a monarch should be honored as "祖" (zǔ; "progenitor") or "宗" (zōng; "ancestor"), a principle was strictly adhered to: "祖" was to be given to accomplished rulers while "宗" was to be assigned to virtuous rulers. However, this principle was effectively abandoned during theSixteen Kingdoms era with the ubiquitous usage of "祖" by various non-Han regimes.
Temple names became widespread from the Tang dynasty onwards. Apart from the final ruler of a dynasty, monarchs who died prematurely, or monarchs who were deposed, most Chinese monarchs were given temple names by their descendants.
The practice of honoring rulers with temple names had since been adopted by other dynastic regimes within theEast Asian cultural sphere, including those based on the Korean Peninsula and in Vietnam. Japan, while having adopted both posthumous names andera names from China, did not assign temple names to its monarchs.
Most temple names consist of two Chinese characters, unlike the more elaborate posthumous names. In extremely rare cases, temple names could consist of three characters.
The first character is an adjective, chosen to reflect the circumstances of the monarch's reign. The vocabulary may overlap with that of the posthumous names' adjectives; however, for one sovereign, the temple name's adjective character usually does not repeat as one of the many adjective characters in his posthumous name.
The last character is either "祖" or "宗":[2]
Once a Shang king died he was awarded a posthumous "temple-name" employing one of the ten "heavenly stems" (tian gan, a later term) that were also used to name the ten days of the Shang week. Thus, we find ancestors being worshipped as Dajia (jia being the name of the first day of the week), Da Yi (yi being the name of the second day of the week), and Wai Bing (bing being the third day of the week).
This was because nearly every emperor was given a posthumous temple name that either included the characterzu 祖 orzong 宗, which were meritorious designations that entitled the bearer to receive offerings for the dynasty's duration (according to tradition, each dynasty was only supposed to have one ruler with the posthumous name ofzu and two with that ofzong).
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