This poster was posted on the official Instagram account of Prada. This promotional material was a promotional design with the theme of travel. This seemingly ordinary video was made with the theme of travel, but what became a problem was the shape of the sun in the video. The sun was drawn in a radial pattern extending outward from the center. This symbolizes Japan’s Rising of the Sun. Korean netizens point out that it is not red like the rising sun flag, but the shape is reminiscent of the rising sun flag.
So, what is the Rising Sun Flag? Many foreigners do not know about the Rising Sun Flag and purchase products just by looking at the pattern. The Rising Sun Flag (旭日旗, Kyokujitsu-ki) is a Japanese flag that consists of a red disc and sixteen red rays emanating from the disc. Like the Japanese national flag, the Rising Sun Flag symbolizes the sun. The flag was originally used by feudal warlords in Japan during the Edo period (1603–1868 CE).
The Rising Sun Flag was the flag used by Japan during World War II. With Nazi Germany’s Hakenkreuz, it is a symbol of aggressive aggression. Prada previously released clothes reminiscent of the Rising Sun Flag in 2014. Korean netizens strongly raised the issue, but Prada did not show a much different reaction.
The Rising Sun Flag is a flag with a clan inscription embodying the sunlight spreading around the sun. The clan is a traditional pattern that has been used in Japan for a long time to pray for the crest of a samurai family or a good harvest for fishing boats. Because it is a symbol of The name of the Rising Sun Flag also contains the idea of Japanese imperialism, which ‘builds an empire with the momentum of the rising of the morning sun.’During World War II, the Japanese Navy held a welcome ceremony for the crew of German U-boats who entered the Japanese Naval Base in Penang, Malaysia. Both are symbols of the navy. Source: News Top (http://www.newstof.com)
The Rising Sun Flag is a ‘war criminal flag’ made and used by war criminals like the Hakenkreuz, a hooked cross symbolizing Nazi Germany. However, in contrast to Germany’s thorough ban on using Hakenkreuz by repenting of its past wars, Japan has been using the Rising Sun Flag without reflecting on its history of war and aggression. The Rising Sun flag is the flag of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and is widely used for cheering flags for sports events and marketing popular culture products.
It is also a problem that Japan, which caused war and caused great damage to the world’s people, continues to use the Rising Sun flag without historical remorse, but the bigger problem is that even Korea, the biggest victim, does not know why this is a problem. Considering that people have lived through the harsh times due to the Japanese occupation and still live with the pain without proper compensation or apology, it would be impossible to dare to use or defend the Rising Sun Flag, a criminal war flag. The use of the Rising Sun Flag is ignorance of history, and this cannot be excused.
In the book “The politics of Design,” research shows that ninety-eight languages have words for the same eleven basic colors; however, the meaning a color may have can be very different. There are conflicting theories on whether the cultural meanings of colors can be categorized. Meaning can change over time and depend on the contest. For example, Koreans are called the ‘white coat people.’ Because people liked to wear white clothes in the past, Korean people have worn white clothes for thousands of years, forming a unique and unique national sentiment. Many scholars have tried to explain this reason. I was taught in school that Korea did not have the skills to make colors at that time, but this is also not the exact reason.
Folklorist Nam-seon Choi argued that the white light, which symbolizes the sun, was considered sacred and that the Korean people wore white clothes with pride. It is theorized that the primitive belief in the worship of the sun made people like white light. However, it is said that the white belief is a general tendency of northern Asian peoples. Mongolia, the origin of the northern peoples, is a country that ‘starts with white and ends with white.’ They are the original ‘white coat people.’ This is also the case when you see a ‘god of agriculture’ with a cow’s head and wearing a white robe on the murals of tombs in Goguryeo.
However, beliefs and ideas about white may be the origin of white clothes, but they cannot fully explain why they have been preserved for thousands of years. There must be some practical reason. Recently, a cultural historian found the reason in ‘lye.’ ‘Lye water is a natural alkaline solution made by immersing the ashes of burnt rice straw or bean hulls in the water. In the early days, the Korean people maintained their white clothes were always white by using the washing method of sterilizing and bleaching by boiling the laundry in lye water.
The lye water makes stiff cotton clothes white and supple. Even clothes soaked in the dirt while working in the paddy fields can be reborn as dazzlingly white clothes by boiling them once in lye water. As long as there was lye, the white-robe people’s entrance could always shine white.
It is difficult to say one single reason why we are a white-robed people. But at least that’s not because of Han (恨, kinds of emotion). Not just because I believed in white. Contrary to the common notion, white clothes for the Korean people were easy to clean and hygienic. Because of the convenience of such a reality, our ancestors did not have to be “colored” people.
However, in the Joseon Dynasty, high-ranking officials who lived and died under the law insisted that white clothes should be banned by law. In the year following his accession to the throne, Taejong issued a ban on white clothes, and during King Sukjong’s reign, high position officer Heo Jerk and Min Chang-do also argued that white clothes should be banned. During King Heonjong and King Yeongjo, the state issued a white coat ban. Because of the ‘five-element theory,’ the country had been betting on white clothes all along. Since Joseon, the eastern country, is ‘wood’ among the five elements, it was the nobles who worshiped Confucianism that they should wear blue clothes that symbolize it. Besides, white clothes are mourning clothes (喪服), so it was considered taboo.
The white love of Koreans is also reflected in the Taegeukgi. First, the white background of the Taegeukgi symbolizes the purity and brilliance of the white-robed people and, at the same time, expresses the peace-loving ethnicity of the Korean people.
제74주년 광복절인 15일 오전 경북 울릉군 사도항에서 광복절을 경축하는 태권도 퍼포먼스가 열렸다. 태극기 퍼포먼스는 경북도와 울릉군, 국기원이 일본 아베정권의 경제보복과 독도 영유권 주장에 맞서 독도가 우리 땅임을 확인시키기 위해 마련됐다.(울릉군제공) 2019.8.15/뉴스1
Also, since the red dye was expensive in the old days, it was mainly the color of clothes worn by nobles or royalty. In the East, it was the second most noble color after yellow, and in the West, it was also considered the second most noble color after purple. In the East, yellow, which symbolizes the center of
From time immemorial, kings have used color to symbolize powerful royal authority. This is because colors can contain various emotions and meanings beyond words. Red was the color most loved by kings in the East and the West. Red symbolizes powerful vitality such as the sun, fire, blood, auspiciousness, and joy. In portraits displayed in museums, it is easy to see the kings who boasted powerful royal powers, such as Louis XVI and Napoleon, dressed in red.
The symbol color of the kings of the Joseon Dynasty is also red. If you look at the royal coat of arms of the kings of Joseon, all the kings except for the founding monarch, Lee Seong-Hye (blue) and King Gojong (golden), who founded the Korean Empire, are wearing red goryongpo. The fact that the color of the Joseon king is red is partly because it is a symbol of strength and vitality, but also because he had to avoid “yellow,” the color of the Chinese emperor. According to the yin-yang and five elements theory, a traditional Eastern thought, blue means east, white means west, red means south, black means north, and yellow means center. Did. Chosun, which was immersed in the four major Chinese ideologies, had no choice but to choose the king’s color from among the colors other than yellow, the color of the Chinese emperor, and among the kings of Joseon, Gojong was the only one to wear gold.
Also, every decoration on the king’s clothes had a meaning. In particular, depending on the dragon’s claws embroidered on the clothes, the status of the person changes. The king has 5 dragon claws, while his son the Crown Prince has 4 claws.
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