 We, who live on the earth, have the sun during daytime and the moon at night. Korea has four distinctive seasons and very appropriate amount of sunshine for farming. Sun has been very important especially to our traditional farming culture.
In our childhood, we may all observe that our shadows change their sizes as the sun rises and falls when we play outside. Like this, the size of shadow varies according to the place of the sun, and HAESIGYE may stem from this phenomenon.
We now turn to the HAESIGYE called 'Yangbooilkwee'.
'Yangbooilkwee' is the representative HAESIGYE in the JOSEON Dynasty. It was invented by JANGYEONGSIL in 1434, used until the end of JOSEON Dynasty and later introduced to Japan. 'ilkee' here means the kind of HAESIGYE sun which utilizes the shape of the shadows for measuring time. The part receiving the sunlight looks a dented half circle.
'Yangbooilkwee' had two kinds. One type was installed in the garden and the other was portable. Those installed in the garden were usually placed on the stands made of bronze, rock or celadon. The portable ones were made in the late 19th century and as big as a matchboxes, so that people carried them in their pockets. These, made of ivory or stone, were very beautiful crafts.
Those made of bronze were approximately 30-40 in diameter and had 24 seasonal division lines as well as 13 time lines unlike other HAESIGYEs. Thirteen horizontal time lines were drawn according to the height of shadows depending on the 24 seasonal divisions. For example, in the DONGJI (winter) division when the shadow figured the longest, the height of sun is was shortest. In the HAEJI (summer)division, the shadow figured shortest, with the sun being supposed to be at the highest. The 24 vertical time lines were at 15-angle distance, slanting toward the North Pole. People could tell the time from the spot where shadow fell on the time lines. |
 SEJONG King used animal signs instead of letters as the means to tell time for those illiterate. 'Yangbooikkwee' was placed on the platform made of stone in the 'Heunkupingkak' and in two other sites, 'HEUMGYEONGGAK' and 'JONGMYONG'. They were significant as they were the first public clocks in Korean history.
In the late 17th century, they were modified as astrology was developing. The modified version was also a dented bronze HAESIGYE but installed in houses of the wealthy. This craft was a very elegant and delicate art with lines, and letters were engraved in silver string and the four legs carved with dragons.
These modified ones were also another of the representative HAESIGYEs in JOSEON Dynasty. They were fixed to the stone platforms carved with beautiful patterns. Two of the clocks in the YEONGREUNG Museum and National Museum are designated as national treasures.
HAESIGYEs are hardly installed on the street or in the house yard in China or Japan. We can find one characteristic aspect that JOSEON Dynasty culture entailed through the observation of the HAESIGYEs. Although 'yangbooilkwee' was first produced by Kwak, soo-kyoung and discontinued before long in China, it was developed in JOSEON style and maintained as the representative HAESIGYE throughout the JOSEON Dynasty
The 15th century was the peak of Korean science as the society was very supportive to the development of its science technology. This social environment resulted in many inventions created during the period. One such example is 'yangbooilkwee'.
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