The Flag of the old Korean Kingdom displayed symbols which travelers frequently see repeated in the art, architecture, and decoration of the people. Though apparently totally different from those on the Japanese flag, the emblems are nevertheless founded on the same order of ideas. The cabalistic central figures on the white ground are (in the philosophy of the Chinese) the Yang and Yin, or male and female principles of nature -- the twofold division (the first strong or hard, the second weak or soft) of the one primordial ki (air) -- dual powers which first formed the outlines of the universe, and were themselves influenced retroactively by their own creations. These coma-shaped figures (called by the Japanese Futatsu-tomoe, and by the Chinese Taiku, the body) are always shown (in Korea), one in light, one in shade, coiled within an involved circle (called Yang and Yöng), and are considered a sort of distinctive badge of nationality. (Comp. Kuro-shiwo, p. cxlvi.) The mystic forms (siang) at the four corners are supposed to express the state and position, at any given place or time, of the Yang and Yin, and they are called Fuh-hí (from Fuh-hí, the supposed founder -- in B.C. 3322 - of the Chinese nation). They represent but one half of the eight trigrams (kwa) evolved from the two original principles, and among other things stand for the four cardinal points, the earth, fire, sun, water, clouds, rivers, seasons, and what-not. The meanings are subtle and confusing to the lay mind; an effort is made to explain them in the Yih King (of the Chinese Five Classics) or Book of Changes, translated by James Legge (Oxford, 1882). Consult also The Middle Kingdom, by S. Wells Williams, vol. 1, p. 626.
|
