Period: Joseon era
Materials: Silk
Dimensions: 180.5 x 268.0 cm
Designation: Treasure
Taegeukgi, the Korean national flag, features the taegeuk, or the yin and yang symbol. and sagwe, which are the four groups of bars.
Each of the four sagwe has a specific meaning: starting from the top left, moving clockwise, the geon bars symbolize air, south and summer; the gam bars symbolize water, west and autumn; the gon bars symbolize Earth, north and winter; and the ri bars symbolize fire, east and spring.
Throughout Northeast Asia, including Korea, these symbols were regarded as the universe’s basic principles. They represent the perpetual cycle of creation, change and development. These emblems also symbolize vitality, auspiciousness and fortune, and were believed to repel evil.
Believed to be the oldest extant taegukgi, this particular flag holds an interesting story.
It is named after Owen N. Denny (1838-1900), who served as a diplomatic adviser to King Gojong (1863-1907) from 1886. While serving as adviser, Denny wrote a book called "Qing-Korea Theory," which used early modern international law theory to refute the claim that Joseon belonged to Qing, criticize Qing for intervening in Joseon’s politics and assert that Joseon was an independent nation.
Denny’s views angered the Qing, and in 1890, he was dismissed from his advisory position. He returned to the US, taking this early taegeukgi with him.
Denny died in 1900, and since he had no children, his relatives inherited the taegeukgi. They eventually donated it to Mr. William C. Ralston, who returned it to South Korea on June 23, 1981.
Interestingly, the cord for attaching this taegeukgi to a flagpole is on the right side, rather than the left, suggesting the flag was meant to be raised from its right side, the reverse of modern flags. This may relate to the traditional custom of writing from right to left, and suggests that this taegeukgi, unlike other taegeukgi, was stitched from the inside.
mjcha@heraldcorp.com