Premise

Chinese Taijitu
In Chinese philosophy, Taiji is a cosmological term for ‘the source, the beginning of the world’. Taijitu is a symbol or diagram that represents Taiji. The
symbol has many variations, the most popular includes two interlocking spirals with superimposed dots. This symbol variation was popularised by the west
in the 1960’s as the “Yin Yang symbol”. Yin and Yang is a concept of dualism, how opposing forces are interconnected in the natural world explored in
ancient Chinese philosophy. Many natural dualities in our lives are thought of as physical manifestations of the duality symbolized by Yin and Yang. For
example; light and dark, fire and water, expanding and contracting. Following this philosophy, everything has both Yin and Yang elements e.g. shadow can’t
exist without light. Yin can be translated to the English equivalents of ‘negative/ hidden/ shaded’ and represents the black Taijitu segment. Yang can be
translated to the English equivalents of ‘positive/ light/ warmth’ and represents the white Taijitu segment.

The original Taijitu The Yin Yang/ Tao The Modern ‘Yin
symbol (Qujialing symbol (1660’s) Yang’ symbol
culture).

Japanese Tomoe
Japanese Shintoism adopts many characteristics from Chinese religion and philosophy. For example, the word Shinto is made from Chinese characters for
Shen ‘divine being’ and Tao ‘Way of the Spirits’. Shinto’s swirling Tomoe symbol also resembles China’s Taijitu symbol/ diagram. Tomoe can be translated to
‘comma’ and different variations of the symbol have different numbers of comma. The most common is the three comma Mitsu-Tomoe which is said to
represent the interaction of the three realms of existence; heaven, earth and the underworld. Two-comma tomoe is the most similar to the Chinese Yin
Yang Taijitu; two counterparts contained in one circle, showing that both powers are in once cycle as mutually interdependent partners. One cannot exist
without the other.

Mitsu-Tomoe Two comma Tomoe

Yin Yang
Yin Yang
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