Colours
Colour
Yellow
황黃hwang
The colour of the centre, once so imperial that a yellow wrapper got officials banished.
- Direction
- Center (중앙) · Earth (토)
- Hex
#F9D537
Center, authority
Yellow bo carried royal connotations (1408 incident); yellow 주 palace 솜보 survive.
History & tradition
Five-phase colour theory; restricted in early Joseon (1408)
Yellow marks the centre and earth. Because it was reserved for the Chinese emperor, its use was restricted in early Joseon: in 1408 (태종 8) a servant's yellow wrapping cloth led to two officials being banished. Yellow survives on palace 솜보 and in five-colour cloths.
Used today mostly within five-colour (오방색) schemes rather than as a status marker.
Sources for this entry
백白baek