In this study, a new direct shear apparatus was developed to investigate the shear characteristics of the rock joints at various conditions. Using the developed apparatus, various experiments on filled rock joints were carried out considering the asperity angle, the normal stress, the type and thickness of filling material and to investigated the basic shear characteristics of filled rock joints were analyzed. According to the experiments performed under the constant normal stress condition by varying the asperity angle, the type and thickness of filling material, it was shown that the behavior and strength of filled rock joint could be defined by the type and thickness of the filling material. The dilation angle of the filled joints was found to be smaller than that of unfilled rock joint, and thereby, the effect of roughness was also reduced due to the filling material. And critical thickness ratio varied according to stress level and roughness as well as the type of filing materials.