Ever wonder want to know just a little more about your pattern history?  Well, we're going to try and get some of that for you!  While we're still working on getting all of the pages loaded, here's a site map to the colored belt patterns. Chon-Ji and Dan-Gun are loaded, so take a look!  Just click on the link below:

Colored belt pattern history

     We all know what the Korean flag looks like. But do you know the symbolism behind the flag? Here's a few facts you may not know!

• China originally wanted Korea to use a dragon design on its national flag, but Korea rejected the idea in favor of the red and blue yin-yang on a white field, which had been a favorite Korean design since ancient times.
• In September, 1882, King Gojong appointed Bak Yeoung-hyo as his ambassador to Japan. While he was on ship headed for Japan, Bak drew a national flag for Korea, using the currently seen four trigrams in each corner.  Bak submitted his design to King Gojong on October 3, who formally proclaimed the Taeguekgi as the national flag on March 6, 1883.

• The trigrams each have a special meaning, and they are as follows:

  • Geon:  This is the three solid bars in the upper left-hand corner, and they denote "heaven".
  • Gon:  This is the three evenly spaced bars in the lower right-hand corner, and they denote "earth".
  • Gam:  This has one evenly divided bar on each side of one solid bar in the upper right-hand corner which denotes "water".
  • Li:  Last, but not least, this with the one solid bar on each side of one evenly divided bar in the lower left-hand corner which denotes "fire"

• The yin-yang circle which is divided equally into a red portion above and a blue portion above represents the dual cosmic forces of yin (blue) and yang (red).  The white background symbolizes light and purity, reflecting the Korean people's traditional affinity for peace.  Taken as a whole, the flag represents universal harmony and unity which is the ideal of all Koreans!