During the Goryeo Dynasty, there were many gods who were objects of faith and ritual for both the royal court and local residents in each region. Thus, the worship of these gods serves as a subject matter that reveals the religious sentiment of Goryeo society, the relationship between the central and local governments, and the ritual system. Previous studies on this topic have mainly focused on understanding the faith in these gods through a ritual code(祀典), but have failed to address the regional dimension of faith.

In this study, the worship of these gods is defined as “Samyoshinang (祠廟信仰)” and is analyzed by dividing it into either court-based worship or regional-based worship. In the court, gods who were believed to possess the ability to resolve national difficulties were listed in a ritual code; rituals were offered through the chegosa(祭告使) ritual. This was unrelated to the trends of the region where the gods were worshipped. Each region also constructed and operated its own ritual code, reflecting its own customs. The court sought to exert influence over these ritual codes through regional officials, but since the hyangni led their operation, the court’s influence was limited to a certain extent.