''Taegeuk'' (, ) is a

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

term cognate with the Chinese term ''

Taiji Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called " shadowboxing", is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and meditation. T ...

'' ( Wade-Giles spelling: ''T'ai-chi''), meaning "supreme ultimate", although it can also be translated as "great polarity / duality". The symbol was chosen for the design of the

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

n national flag in the 1880s, swapping out the black and white color scheme often seen in most ''

taijitu In Chinese philosophy, a ''taijitu'' () is a symbol or diagram () representing Taiji () in both its monist ('' wuji'') and its dualist (yin and yang) aspects. Such a diagram was first introduced by Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhou Dunyi (; 1 ...

'' illustrations and substituting blue and red, respectively, along with a horizontal separator, as opposed to vertical. South Koreans commonly refer to their national flag as ' (Hangeul: , with ''gi; 기'' meaning "flag" or "banner"). This particular color-themed taegeuk symbol (i.e. using blue and red) is typically associated with Korean tradition and represents balance in the universe; the red half represents positive cosmic forces, and the blue half represents the complementary or opposing, negative cosmic forces. It is also used in Korean shamanism,

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

.Korea's Sam-Taegeuk Symbol
san-shin.org, dedicated to the sacred mountains of Korea.

History

The Taegeuk diagram has been existent for the majority of written

Korean history The Lower Paleolithic era in the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria began roughly half a million years ago. Christopher J. Norton, "The Current State of Korean Paleoanthropology", (2000), ''Journal of Human Evolution'', 38: 803–825. The earliest ...

. The origins of the interlocking- sinusoid design in Korea can be traced to as early as the

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled mos ...

or Silla period, e.g. in the decoration of a sword, dated to the 5th or 6th century, recovered from the grave of

Michu of Silla Michu of Silla was the thirteenth ruler of the Korean state of Silla (r. 262–284). He was the first king of the Kim clan to sit on the Silla throne; this clan would hold the throne for most of Silla's later history. He was the son of Gudo ...

, or an artifact with the taegeuk pattern of similar age found in the Bogam-ri tombs of

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jum ...

Naju Naju () is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. The capital of South Jeolla was located at Naju until it was moved to Gwangju in 1895. The name Jeolla actually originates from the first character of Jeonju () and the first character of Na ...

South Jeolla Province South Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollanam-do''; ), also known as Jeonnam, is a province of South Korea. South Jeolla has a population of 1,902,324 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Honam region at the southwestern tip of the Korean ...

in 2008. In the compound of Gameunsa, a temple built in AD 628 during the reign of King Jinpyeong of Silla, a stone object, perhaps the foundation of a

pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

, is carved with the taegeuk design. In

Gojoseon Gojoseon () also called Joseon (), was the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary founder named Dangun. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean P ...

, the ancient kingdom of Joseon, the design was used to express the hope for harmony of

yin and yang Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and ya ...

. It is likely due to the earliest spread of ancient Chinese culture in Gojoseon, especially during the early

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...

. Today the TaeGeuk is usually associated with Korean tradition and represents balance in the universe, as mentioned in the previous section (red = 양; ''yang'', or positive cosmic forces, and blue = 음; ''yin'', or negative cosmic forces). Among its many religious connotations ( Korean Confucianism; Taoism in Korea; Korean Buddhism), the taeguk is also present in Korean shamanism.

South Korean flag

The Taegeuk symbol is most prominently displayed in the center of South Korea's national flag, called the ''taegeukgi'', literally ''taegeuk flag.''(along with four of the eight

trigrams Trigrams are a special case of the ''n''-gram, where ''n'' is 3. They are often used in natural language processing for performing statistical analysis of texts and in cryptography for control and use of ciphers and codes. Frequency Context ...

used in divination). Because of the Taegeuk's association with the national flag, it is often used as a patriotic symbol, as are the colors red, blue, and black. While the use of the taeguk and the trigrams have been used since the earliest periods of Korean history, its history goes back even further in China. The Taegeuk is a

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

icon which symbolizes cosmic balance, and represents the constant interaction between the

, also known as ''eum/yang'' in Korean (음양 , 陰陽). The taegeuk symbol used on the flag originated from the Chinese Confucian classic known as '' The Book of Changes'' (also known as ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing''), a book developed for use in divination. The four trigrams also originated from the I Ching; each of these trigrams represent specific Confucian virtues, cosmic elements, or family roles, in addition to seasons, compass directions, etc. The 건 "geon" trigram (☰) represents the heaven (sky), summer, south, father, and justice. The 곤 "gon" trigram (☷) symbolizes the earth (ground), winter, north, mother, and vitality, the 감 "gam" trigram (☵) the moon, autumn, west, 2nd (or middle) son, and wisdom, and the 리 "ri" trigram (☲) the sun, spring, east, 2nd (or middle) daughter, and fruition. The four trigrams supposedly move in an endless cycle from "geon" to "ri" to "gon" to "gam" and back to "geon" in their pursuit of perfection. The white background symbolizes the homogeneity, integrity and purity of the Korean people. Traditionally, Koreans often wore white clothing, earning the nickname "white-clothed people" and therefore the colour white epitomizes the Korean people.

Variants

Tricolored taegeuk

A popular variant in South Korea is the tricolored taegeuk (''sam·saeg·ui tae·geuk'' or ''sam·tae·geuk'' ), which adds a yellow lobe or "pa" ( ). The yellow portion is taken as representing humanity, in addition to the red and blue representing earth and heaven respectively. This version with more than two colours is related to the Tibetan & Korean Buddhist symbol of

Gankyil The Gankyil (, Lhasa ) or "wheel of joy" ( sa, ānanda-cakra) is a symbol and ritual tool used in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism. It is composed of three (sometimes two or four) swirling and interconnected blades. The traditional spinning direc ...

. A rendition of the tricolored TaeGeuk also appeared in the official logo of the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

accompanied by the five Olympic rings.http://www.aldaver.com/Images/Os/lg1988sm.gif A similar symbol is used by the

Miss Asia Pacific World Miss Asia Pacific World is an annual beauty pageant held in South Korea. It has been subject to a number of controversies over rankings, bribes, and breast augmentation surgeries. In the 2014 Miss Asia Pacific World competition, May Myat Noe of ...

Beauty Pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

, which was hosted in South Korea from its inception in 2011 until 2014, and most recently hosted in the Philippines in 2019 (the 2020 event was cancelled due to COVID-19).

Paralympics symbol

The first designated

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

logo, created for the

1988 Summer Paralympics The 1988 Summer Paralympics () were the first Paralympics in 24 years to take place in the same city as the Olympic Games. They took place in Seoul, South Korea. This was the first time the term "Paralympic" was used officially. Bidding pro ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, was based on the traditional ''pa'' ( ), the spiral or sinusoid components making up the Taegeuk symbol. In March 1992,Vom Rehabilitationssport zu den Paralympics
(

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

), Sportmuseum Leipzig the Paralympic symbol was changed to a version utilizing only three ''pa''. This was not fully adopted until after the

1994 Winter Paralympics The 1994 Winter Paralympics ( no, Paralympiske vinterleker 1994; nn, Paralympiske vinterleikane 1994), the sixth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Lillehammer, Norway, from 10 to 19 March 1994. These Games marked the second time the Paral ...

in Lillehammer,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, since the Lillehammer Paralympic Organizing Committee had by then already started a marketing program based on the five-pa version. The three-''pa'' version remained in place from the close of the Lillehammer Games through the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympi ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

.International Paralympic Committee - The IPC logo, motto and flag
CRWFlags.com The current Paralympic symbol has morphed the teardrop-shaped ''pa'' into more of a

swoosh The Swoosh is the logo of American sportswear designer and retailer Nike. Today, it has become one of the most recognizable brand logos in the world, and the most valuable, having a worth of $26 billion alone. Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight fou ...

(similar to the

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

logo), but still employs three such colour swatches, one each of red, blue, and green.

Gallery

File:Taegeuk in Naju Hyanggyo.jpg, Taegeuk pattern painted on the gate of a house in

Image:Sam Taeguk.jpg, Tricolored TaeGeuk on a

buk (drum) The ''buk'' () is a traditional Korean drum. While the term ''buk'' is a native Korean word used as a generic term meaning "drum" (the Sino-Korean word being ''go''), it is most often used to refer to a shallow barrel-shaped drum, with a ro ...

Image:Samtaegeuk with Fu Hsi's 8 trigrams.svg, Tricolored TaeGeuk encircled by pal gwae.

References

External links

Taegeuk
at '' Naver'' {{in lang, ko Korean culture National symbols of Korea National symbols of South Korea Tao Visual motifs Korean heraldry