The Korean culture is not well known to the world despite of its long and unique history. Korea also has not presented the uniqueness of its culture, which is clearly different from Chinese and Japanese, as much as it could have. This comes from the ...
The Korean culture is not well known to the world despite of its long and unique history. Korea also has not presented the uniqueness of its culture, which is clearly different from Chinese and Japanese, as much as it could have. This comes from the fact that we do not understand where the roots of our culture originate from. In order to preserve and enhance our culture for future generations, it is critical that we acquire a thorough understanding of the underlying ideas of the Korean culture and acknowledge the traditions in our everyday lives.
Primarily, branding a national symbol is the most essential to develop an image of Korean culture’s uniqueness. A national symbol that represents its particular history and uniqueness can be used as a more effective tool to communicate to the world with. It is also a powerful tool to establish an identity of the nation.
As an example, a national flag and a national emblem prove the advantage of nonverbal communication by delivering an identity that is recognized more easily than the official name of a nation. Therefore, our national flag and national emblem deserve enough attention to become national public design as influential figures in the way that they will contribute to introducing Korea to the world.
Because of the lack of natural resources and the dependency on imports, Korea will need to establish a national brand through promoting its particularity and originality of the culture, in other words, Identity-Design.
This study focuses on the significance as well as the ideology and the underlying principle of the Samtaegeuk pattern as a Korean national symbol.
This study also traces the history of Trichotomy and the Samtaegeuk pattern in the Korean culture in order to obtain an understanding of how the sense of moulding have been valued for generations. Throughout the study, we seek to conclude that the Samtaegeuk pattern is a competitive national brand that will introduce Korea to the world in the most efficient and beneficial way.
The Koreans have valued number‘3’ and it has been evident in overwhelming numbers. We have considered the number‘3’ the most meaningful and powerful symbol as possible, and it is probably rooted in the Korean national foundation ‘Dangun’folktale where the three gods, Hwan-in, Hwanwung, and Dangun, unite as one complete omnipotent figure.
It is a vertical structure called ‘Chon·Gi·In (heaven, earth and man)’ in which humanitarianism, the central theme of the ‘Dangun’principle, is implied both vertically in the notion of time and horizontally in place. The intersection of the vertical structure and the horizontal structure places on the center of time and place, and the center refers to man. Thus the universe revolves around man with differentiation and neutralization. This belief became the foundation of our anthropocentricity. Similarly, Humanitarianism became a ruling ideology of ‘Gochosun’, the first Dynasty of Korea history, with a tremendous influence on the Korean’s speculation system.
Our idea of Samtaegeuk is based on both trinity of Chon·Gi·In (heaven, earth and man) and the gapless relationship between god and man. Also, the idea of descendant of heaven, which originates from the progenitor of the birth of fable, had led to worship of heaven and the idea of ancestor worship. It had also turned into the idea of sun worship and birds worship which is evident in the symbolic patterns of sun and birds in many historic relics and sites. Those patterns undergo changes over generations:‘Samjok-O’ and ‘Sam-pamun’ in the period of the Three States and then Samtaegeuk with the color of blue, red and yellow in the ‘Joseon’ Dynasty era, which has become the Samtaegeuk pattern today.
Our idea of Samtaegeuk is rooted in anthropocentricity, the combination of Sam-sin Idea and Sam-jae Idea. Because those idea had been firmly entrenched since ancient times, Samtaegeuk has been a more frequently used pattern than ‘Yin-yand Taegeuk.’ The preference of Samtaegeuk comes from the perspective of “I am Taegeuk and my parents are heaven and earth who gave birth to Taegeuk” and this perspective formed the idea of ancestor worship along with harvest ceremony and worship of heaven.
The Koreans had an ardent wish for peace and happiness since ancient times. Such wishes had created symbols assigned to patterns which became visual art, and Samtaegeuk was the most prominent pattern used among them. Samtaegeuk that is reflected on the idea of Trichotomy and North Eastern Asian Shamanism is still widely used to represent Korea in both international and national events. The beauty of Samtaegeuk is the combination of mutual impact, circulation, network and hierarchical differentiation, the four characteristics of visual by Rudolf Arnheim.
While the formativeness of network of Samtaegeuk implies genetic connectivity among different generations, the arrangement of center concentration and arrangement of radial pattern serve as an image of creation of life and protection through a tension of three different powers. The tension, however, is not a drawback. It is rather a productive tension that creates harmony without a collision. This way of interpretation is a result of inherited circulation moment that is deeply rooted in the Koreans.
Another distinction of Samtaegeuk is the mutual need among all components to make up the whole pattern. The inseparability of parts and a whole of Samtaegeuk is another aspect of mutualism, an idea based on humanitarianism and goodness. Therefore, Samtaegeuk has become the most favored pattern by the Koreans as national symbol.
This study intends to provide a foundation for Samtaegeuk pattern, to be re-designed with a modern perspective as a national symbol, with a historical and theoretical background of it and also with a visual motif from Sam-pamun and Heart-pattern that the current Samtaegeuk pattern