KOREAN HERITAGE

A Distinctive Korean Boardgame with a Long History

Yut or yut nori is a traditional Korean boardgame played by two opposing players or teams tossing four tokens made by splitting wooden dowels into halves. Players cast the yut sticks, and the resulting combination of sticks facing up (round side up) or down (flat side up) determines how many spaces a token can advance on a yut board with 29 stations. The team who runs all four of its tokens through the course first wins. Games using some form of dice are common across the globe. However, the Korean boardgame of yut is distinguished by the profound symbolic meaning it carries in the traditional Korean consciousness.

The origins of what is known as yut nori today are estimated to trace as far back as the Three Kingdoms Period (57 BCE–668 CE). It is recorded in a Chinese document that people in Baekje, one of the three ancient kingdoms occupying the Korean Peninsula, played jeopo (chupu in Chinese). The ancient Chinese chess game chupu differs from yut nori. It has a four-token system with tokens in black and white and a board consisting of 360 stations. It is thought that the Korean version was mistaken by the Chinese for the more familiar chupu. The eighth-century collection of songs known as Manyo syu from Japan contains, in its discussion of the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla, phrases thought to describe different combinations of yut sticks facing up or down. Some Korean documents from the Goryeo era (918–1392) include records on a yut board and its 29 stations. In the Joseon period (1392–1910), the term yut or yut nori was widely used along with synonyms such as sahui and cheoksa. Yut nori came to earn enormous popularity as an inter-neighborhood competition on Jeongwol Daeboreum (the fifteenth day of the first lunar month) during the 20th century. Playing yut on Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Jeongwol Daeboreum has been actively transmitted to the present as an important aspect of traditional Korean culture. Contemporary Koreans throw yut sticks at family gatherings, community events, and in the school curriculum.

Astronomical Knowledge Embodied in the Yut Board

Historical documents from the 17th and 18th centuries contain drawings of a yut board in the form of a circle dissected by a cross along with written accounts. According to these records, the outer circle represents heaven and the inner space divided into four sections by the cross symbolize the land. The central station on the yut board refers to the pole star, and the remaining 28 stations are the 28 asterisms as defined in traditional East Asian astronomy. It can be said that the yut board epitomizes the entire celestial sphere. In addition, the four courses a token can take on the yut board signify the length of the day: The longest and shortest courses respectively represent the summer and winter solstices, and the two middle courses refer to the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. There are four yut sticks for each team because there are four seasons, and the flat and round sides of each stick symbolize the opposing forces of yin and yang. The configurations into which the yut sticks fall after a throw are further associated with five different species of livestock. There are five different combinations, each with its own name: do (one stick facing down), gae (two sticks facing down), geol (three sticks facing down), yut (all four sticks facing down), and mo (all four sticks facing up). The number of sticks facing down equals the number of steps a token can move on the board, except for mo, which is worth five steps. These five configurations—do, gae, geol, yut, and mo—are believed to refer to the pig, dog, goat, ox, and horse.

Yut Board Petroglyphs to Appeal to the Divine

Petroglyphs believed to represent a yut board have been found across the Korean Peninsula. These rock carvings range widely in time from the late Bronze Age to the late Joseon era. To date, 281 yut-board petroglyphs have been discovered at 85 sites on the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria. There is another reported to be in Ji’an, an area belonging to China today that was once ruled by the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo. Rock carvings of a yut board mostly occur in mountains, but there are also examples found within the complex of a Buddhist temple, on the foundation stone of a building, and on the capstone of a dolmen. Given the locations in which these petroglyphs are found, they would not have been used for yut games. It is estimated that a yut board was carved in these places to deliver people’s prayers to heaven. The yut board petroglyphs are generally understood to express four sets of the seven stars forming the Big Dipper, with the pole star in the middle. According to this interpretation, the seven stars of the Big Dipper run counterclockwise from the pole star. The direction that tokens move on the yut board is similarly to the left. The left side has long been associated in Korean culture with the opposite of the quotidian. For example, a straw rope was twisted to the right-hand side for everyday purposes, but it was made by twisting the straws leftward for hanging in a household expecting a baby or at a shrine housing the tutelary god of the community. Various forms of traditional performing arts feature movements toward the left, such as in farmer’s music (nongak), mask dance (talchum), and the ganggangsullae circle dance. A turn to the left signifies a break with the everyday and symbolizes the sacred. A stone-piled tomb in Ji’an bears a carved representation of a yut board. There are also Goguryeo-era tombs with a mural of the 28 asterisms. It is inferred that Koreans of the past carved the stars in the celestial sphere in the form of a yut board to express their wishes to the heavens. These rock carvings can be interpreted as part of a religious ritual rather than a game object.

Left A drawing of a yut board produced by Kim Mun-pyo in 1648

Right A petroglyph representing a yut board at Chilpo-ri, Pohang City

Desirable Characteristics as a Game

Besides its extended history and rich symbolism, yut nori has many advantages as a form of entertainment that has sustained its vitality to the present. First of all, yut nori is heavily dependent on luck, so those with little experience have no less chance to win than skilled players. There are, of course, elements of skill in yut nori, but the bottom line is that there is no way to control how many yut sticks will land face up or down. This predominant aspect of luck enhances the expectations of victory by every player and involves them strongly in the game. Secondly, yut nori is competitive. There are rules making the results unpredictable and enhancing the fun of the game. The tokens of one team can overtake or be overtaken by those of the opposing team, and the overtaken tokens are removed from the yut board to start again from the home station. Tokens can either move separately or collectively along the course. The route a token can take comes in four types: moving in a full circle, moving along the lines of a semicircle in the right half of the board, a semicircle in the lower half of the board, or a quarter in the lower-right of the board. Third, yut nori is not restricted by the availability of game pieces. Yut sticks are normally made from wood, but beans can also be used. Beans are cut into halves, placed in a small dish, and thrown from it. Beyond these, anything can be used, such as small stones, go beads, or pieces of wood. Yut games can be played indoors and out. A yut board is usually drawn on paper or cloth, but it can also be scratched into the ground. Fourth, there are diverse variants of yut nori. The game can also be played with retreating one step. To do this, one of the sticks is marked on the flat side. When the marked stick lands facing down and the others face up, the player must move one space back rather than one space forward. There is a form of yut nori that goes with a mental image of the board without its physical presence or that is designed for the specific needs of those without sight. A version of yut can be played by tossing and catching yut sticks like in jackstones. Fifth, yut nori enhances communication and boosts a sense of belonging within the community. Yut games take place among family members, within communities, and between neighborhoods at both the individual and group levels. The rules of play are not difficult and therefore draw people in, and there are no limits on the number of participants. People playing as a group have to constantly engage in conversation to create a strategy for how to move their tokens. From the start of the new year to the first full-moon day, many Korean families and neighborhoods are buzzing over yut nori. Finally, yut nori incorporates artistic and educational elements. There are traditional songs adopting the different configurations of yut sticks as the main theme, and yut games often invoke spontaneous dances out of excitement. Yut nori is recently being deployed as an element in local festivals and as part of the school curriculum. All of these features of yut nori have conspired to maintain the robust popularity of the game into the present.