Obangsaek: "Five Colours"
Who stops and listens to the message meant for them alone?
A world of wonder filled with colours carrying messages.
These messages of many shades offering their wisdom.
Who stops and listens to the message meant for them alone?
I have been meaning to write a post about obangsaek using my photos for awhile. Obangsaek (오방색) in Korean roughly translates as five colours. The five colours of obangsaek are red, blue, yellow, white and black. In Korean tradition, each colour represents an aspect of the Natural world.
If you look at the photos above, notice each bird has all five colours from obangsaek. The male Wood Duck is so striking and perhaps this is what I see in their plumage. Similar yet subtle is the Black-crowned Night Heron and the mature Cooper’s Hawk.
Below, I have included some of my photos that represent each of the colours:
Red: South, Fire, Authority, Happiness
Blue: East, Wood, Youth, Hope
Yellow: Centre, Earth, Wealth, Fertility
White: West, Metal, Purity, Moderation
Black: North, Water, Death, Dignity
Obangsaek is part of my life. I am aware of the colours and aspects on a deeper level. Yet, obangsaek does not intrude on my wonder of the Natural world. Maybe obangaek reveals that wonder of Nature.
English - Korean:
Five colours = 오방색 / Obangsaek (pronounced sort of like “Oh-bahng-sek”)
Five = 오 / O (pronounced like “oh”)
Colours = 방색 / Bangsaek
Resources on Obangsaek:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obangsaek
Hanyang University: https://www.newshyu.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=32143
Google Arts & Culture: https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-colors-in-korean-life-and-culture-national-folk-museum-of-korea/vgXBoDKJVZn0LA?hl=en
Very fine essay! Obangsaek shows up over and over in Korea and has echoes outside that country as in the five-color systems of Native American tribes.
Beautiful photos. I had never heard of obangsaek. This provided a perfect introduction