Taijitu

The yin - yang symbol, Chinese Taijitu (Chinese太极 图/太极 图, Pinyin Taiji Tú, literally " symbol of the very large extreme / Highest" ), is a character used in Chinese Taoism and Confucianism also (Chinese tu, symbol or diagram ) for the origin of the world they accept as Taiji ("very large extreme "). The image pattern is already common among the Celts, Etruscans and Romans.

Geometric Figure

The Yin - Yang symbol is a pattern whose numerous variations usually consist of circular lines that seem to be in motion. The classic Taoist symbol can be distinguished with the aid of a compass and a ruler: you hit on the diameter of a circle two non- intersecting circles whose diameters are each equal to the radius of the outer circle; one only keeps the line describing a "S", and removes the others. In this way, a spiral form, compare the Daoist texts with a pair of fishes, the head and tail nestled together. This basic pattern is not only a product of human imagination, but is also found - less geometrically exact - in nature again (see picture right). In Taiji, the two differently colored halves each additionally contain a point opposite color.

European characters

Celts

In Celtic art can be the subject of two entangled commas that seem to revolve around its own axis, traced back to the late 5th century BC. Art historians of the La Tène culture use of this form by referring to the much younger Chinese characters the anachronistic term " Yin and Yang ".

The earliest Celtic Yin Yang and do not normally occur as a separate sign on, but within larger floral or animal pattern where they are swirling leaves at the foot of a palmette or stylized tails of seahorses. From the 3rd century BC a more abstract style in which the yin - and - yang symbol now appears as a main motif in the ornamentation evolved. Whilst it is difficult to establish whether the Celts have the sign attached to a particular symbolic value, but in such cases where it is accented by a prominent placement, such as the top of a scabbard, its use, in fact, seems to have been apotropaic to be.

In contrast to classical Daoist emblem Celtic Yin and Yang's lack the element of mutual penetration; Also the two halves are not always kept in different colors. In keeping with the dynamic nature of Celtic symbolism, which is characterized by a pronounced preference for curved lines, the circles are often not fully closed, so that the impression created by endlessly around its own axis swirling pairs of leaves. On some metal objects, the Yin - Yang ornaments also highlight plastically from the background.

The symbol enjoyed some popularity among the Celts and graced a variety of art and everyday objects, including about beaked flagons, helmets, vases, bowls, collars, pins, brooches and knife edges. During the Celtic character treasure has been displaced on the continent by the Roman art, he was able to hold on Ireland and lived in the post-Roman era in Britain even again ( see insular manuscript illumination ); then three vertebrae found as components of triskel in the 7th century in the famous Book of Durrow (folio 3v ) again.

Etruscan

In Etruscan art, the yin and yang motif occurs for the first time at the end of the 4th century BC in appearance, possibly due to the increasing contact with the invading Celts over the Alps; it is found in a large format Faliskergrab on the abdomen of two oinochoai where the now typical of the Celtic Yin and Yang geometric patterns forms a bond with Etruscan Floralornamentik.

Roman

A mosaic in a Roman villa in Sousse ( Tunisia) is separated by an "S " line halves in different colors, but without the points.

The classic yin- and -yang pattern is - for the first time - displayed in the Late Antique Notitia Dignitatum, a collection of shield coat of arms of the Roman army from the period around 430 AD The drawings are preserved in three manuscripts: the symbol of an infantry unit, the Armigeri defensores seniores ( " shield-bearer " ) corresponds to the choice of color to the classic Oriental Yin and Yang. Another section of the Western Roman infantry, the Pseudocomitatenses Mauri Osismiaci, led a coat of arms with the same " fishy" hotspot in the shield; here the two points have the same color. A third infantry regiment, the Thebaei, had a pattern that is the static variant of the East Asian Taiji comparable: three concentric circles that are separated by a vertical line in the middle as each other, so that the color sequence is for each side in the reverse order other half moves. The Roman yin and yang same symbols go the later Daoist variants by several centuries ahead:

" With regard to the first occurrence of the iconography of the Yin - Yang over time, it is reported that the earliest representations of the yin-yang in China, at least those who have come to us go back, to the 11th century AD, although there was talk of these two principles in the 4th or 5th century BC. With the Notitia Dignitatum we are, however, in the 4th or 5th century AD, ie in iconographically nearly seven centuries earlier than the oldest examples from China. "

Modern times, computer

In the Unicode character encoding standard the yin - and - yang symbol of the code point U 262 F (decimal 9775 ) is assigned in the Unicode Miscellaneous Symbols block. In HTML, it is encoded with ☯. The character appears as ☯.

Daoism

The Taijitu is witnessed in China in the 11th century. It originated in a Daoist milieu, where, according to the information provided by the sources ( " of that symbol that no utmost / Supreme has " ) for the first time in the 10th century emerging Daoist Wujitu was the starting point. In the first centuries of its use had the Taijitu different forms; the oldest still have no resemblance to the later common " fish-like " shape. There were often concentric black and white or half black, half white circles. The innermost circle was always white. The white color stood for the principle of yang, the black for the principle of Yin. The now commonly used " fishy " form is the product in the Ming dynasty, which came to power in 1368.

The Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073) wrote a treatise " Taiji Tu Shuo " (Chinese太极 图 说/太极 图 说, Pinyin Taiji Tú Shuo, declaration of Taijitu '), with which began the neukonfuzianische reception Taijitu. The living in the 12th century Neo-Confucians Zhu Xi gave the Taiji Tu Shuo general recognition in neo-Confucian circles.

Gallery

Shield coat of arms of the Western Roman infantry unit Armigeri defensores seniores ( AD 430 to AD)

Shield coat of arms of the Western Roman Mauri Osismiaci (around 430 AD)

Shield coat of arms of Thebaei (around 430 AD)

National Coat of arms of Mongolia

National flag of South Korea