ロゴ王国日本

～家紋から社標まで～

　日本はグラフィックデザインにおいて長い歴史がある。奈良時代（710～784）や平安時（794～1185）には既に、宮廷の貴族たちは家紋を用い始めていた。

最も古く歴史ある家紋で現行のものは、皇室のシンボルである「菊花紋」、豊臣秀吉に使用され現在は内閣総理大臣が用いる「桐紋」、そして徳川家の「三つ葉葵」である。

　江戸時代（1603～1868）になると家紋は商人、役者、遊女、百姓の間でも使用されていた。そして近年になると、多くの日本企業が家紋を会社のトレードマークとして取り入れた。例えば三菱のロゴは、創業者である岩崎弥太郎の家紋と土佐藩の家紋（土佐藩主 山内家の家紋）が合体したものである（図参照）。日本航空のマークである輪の中のタンチョウは、「鶴の丸」家紋に由来している。住友商事の社標は「井桁」紋であり、これは井戸を上から見た形を示したものだ（井戸は生活に欠かせないものであることから家紋として用いられるようになった）。

   このように、日本の会社のロゴも家紋のように、自然の要素の象り（かたどり）か、もしくは幾何学的な図案でできている。資生堂のロゴは「椿」であり、ヤマト運輸のトレードマークはあの有名な「クロネコ」である。母クロネコが子クロネコを口にくわえて運んでいるデザインだ。スバル自動車のロゴは「昴の六連星」のデザイン。そしてトヨタのロゴは3つの「楕円形」が組み合わさったもので、大きな楕円の中に小さな楕円が2つ描かれている。この2つの楕円がTOYOTAの「T」の形を作っている。

　佐川急便の宅配便ブランドのシンボルは「飛脚」である。街道を走り郵便物や荷物を届けた飛脚は、江戸時代のスピーディーな郵便配達員であった。

　他に日本の会社の社標として、「円の中に漢字一字」を配置したものもよく見られる。例えば三越や日本通運のトレードマークがそうである。

　現在の日本企業のトレードマークは、昔の家族の家紋とその役割が似ている。ロゴのデザインや様式は、会社の威信や身分、その歴史を顧客に伝えているのである。

フロリアーノ・テッラーノ

In the Empire of logos

Japan from kamon to trade marks 

Japan has a long and rich tradition of graphic arts and design. In Nara (710 - 784) and Heian (794 - 1185) periods Japanese court nobility began to use kamon, family crests. 

  Use of kamon was necessary during the battles to distinguish hierarchy and faction of the warriors who brought sashimono, banners painted with their family crests. The most ancient kamon still in use are: kiku-mon, the sixteen petal chrysanthemum symbol of Japanese Imperial House; kiri-mon, the paulownia leaves crest which was bestowed on Toyotomi Hideyoshi by the Emperor and now symbol of the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan; the mitsuba aoi, the three malva leaves kamon of Tokugawa clan. In Edo-Tokugawa period (1603 – 1868) kamonbegan to be used not only by samurai families but also by merchants, actors, courtesans and farmers.

In modern Japan new industrial companies used lots of kamon as their logos and trade marks.

Mitsubishi corporation logo, the well-known three-diamond emblem, is a combination of Iwasaki family and Tosa clan kamon. Iwasaki Yataro, founder of old Mitsubishi company, had worked with Tosa clan before and for this reason he chose a logo which united together his family and Tosa clan kamon. JAL old logo, a circle with a red tsuru, Japanese crane, originated from the tsuru no maru, the Hino and Yanagiwara families crest. The Sumitomo Corporation logo has its origin in igeta kamon which represents a well.

Like kamon, Japanese companies trade marks as well originate from natural elements like leaves, trees, flowers, animals or from geometric shapes. Shiseido company’s logo is a tsubaki, camellia flower, Yamato Transport’s trade mark is akuroneko, a black mother cat carring her kitten in mouth, Subaru company’s logo is six stars’ design of Pleiades, Subaru in Japanese. Toyota Motor Corporation’s sign consists in three ovals, one bigger in which two perpendicular center ovals combine to symbolize the letter "T" for Toyota. 

Sagawa Express company’ s logo is a hykyaku, an express messenger of Tokugawa period who was able to run from Edo, the old name of Tokyo, to Kyoto in 70 hours bringing deliveries.
Other Japanese firms’ trade marks consist in a character deigned in a round or square shape, like Mistukoshi or Nippon Express logos. Nowadays Japanese companies’ trade marks have a similar role of Japanese family crests in past. 

With their design and shapes, logos communicate company’s authority and quality, the same of kamon of clans and families in old Japan.

(www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI40udOVIK0

and www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNIHUHLGR9o)

Floriano Terrano

The Dragon’s claw

The most famous companies

and logos of Korea in the world

Since 70s to 90s of twentieth century the Miracle on the Han River happens in Korea (한강의 기적, Hangangeui Kijeok). Economy of Korean peninsula booms and Korea joins the streak of Four Asian Tigers or Asian Dragons together with

Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore (아시아의 네 마리 용, 亞洲四小龍). Economic miracle begins during the government of Park Chung-hee (박정희, 朴正熙 1917 – 1979) who ruled since 1963 to 1979 and 1998 Seoul Olympics are the miracle’s peak. The entire world in that occasion could know the power and liveliness of Korean economy based on chaebol (재벌, “monopoly, business family”) business conglomerates which are similar to Japanese zaibatsu (財閥). As it is usual in Far Eastern conglomerates, chaebol deal with many fields, from electronics to automotive, from construction to finance, from chemistry to food and shipbuilding. Korean shipyards are until nowadays the engine of Korean economy. Korea is leader for the value of produced ships and it was the biggest producer of ships since 2004 until when China recently surpassed it. The most important chaebol have branches exclusively involved in shipbuilding like Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries, the former Daewoo Heavy Industries. STX (STX그룹) is an

industrial giant specialized in shipbuilding only and it owns also shipyards around the world, Europe included. Samsung (삼성그룹, 三星, “Three Stars”) is one of the most famous Korean brands in the world. Samsung was founded in 1938 in Daegu by Lee Byung-chull (이병철, 李秉喆, 1910 – 1987) and at the beginning it was a trading company in food, insurance and retail business. At the end of 60s Samsung begins its adventure in electronics and nowadays it is a giant of world economy with a turnover like the 12% of Korean GDP. Its products range over a wide variety of subjects, from household appliances to mobile phones, from computers to televisions, LCD screens and air conditioners. Samsung has also a construction branch called Samseong Mulsan (삼성물산) which was involved in the erection of some of the highest skyscrapers of the world like

Taipei 101 in Taiwan and Petronas Towers in Malaysia. In automotive field, Samsung Motor was almost entirely sold to Renault which owns the 80%. Samsung logo is today a blue oval with the company name in white letters nevertheless the old logos showed the three stars of the name Samsung. The other giant of Korean electronics is LG Electronics (LG전자). LG was founded in 1958 from the union of the companies Lucky dealing with housewares and Goldstar dealing with appliances. The name LG derived from the initials L and G of two companies even if now LG is read as the motto “Life’s Good” and its logo is a red circle with L and G letters which form a stylized smiling face. Automotive industry is the other pillar of Korean economy. Daewoo (대우, 大宇, “Great Universe”) was one of the biggest producers of motor vehicles of the world. After 1997 Asian financial crisis it was sold to American General Motors. Hyundai (현대, 現代, “Modernity”), founded in 1947 in Ulsan, was in the beginning a construction company and then started to deal with electronics, finance and

above all automotive. Its logo is an italic H circumscribed in a silver oval. Hyundai acquired Kia Motors (기아자동차 주식회사, 起亞自動車株式會社, “Rising out of Asia”) in 1998 and its name became Hyundai Kia Automotive Group (현대자동차 그룹). Nowadays it is the fourth world's leading producer of motor vehicles and the second in Asia after Japanese Toyota. Hanjin (한진, 韓進, “Progress of Korea”), founded in 1945, is one of world’s leaders of logistics and oceanfreight and it owns many ships and containers. Its logo is a light blue circle with an inscribed round H which slightly resembles the shape of Korean national symbol taegeuk (태극, 太極). Korean Air Lines (대한항공, 大韓航空), the flag carrier founded in 1962, is in Hanjin group too and its red and blue logo is very similar to taegeuk as well. The only Korean competitor of Korean Air is Asiana Airlines (아시아나 항공, 아시아나 航空), founded in 1988, which connects Korea with many destinations above all in Far East. Lotte (롯데그룹, Japanese 株式会社ロッテ) is a leading company in food and confectionery both in Korea and in Japan and Asia. It was founded in 1948 in Tokyo by Shin Kyuk-Ho (신격호, 辛格浩) also known as Shigemitsu Takeo (重光 武雄)

with Japanese name. Lotte's ginseng-flavoured chewing gums are famous not only in Far East. Lotte’s logo is a red circle with a L divided into three vertical wavy in lower part segments. The biggest and oldest Korea’s department store is Shinsegae (신세계, 新世界, “New World”), which was originally the Korean branch of Japanese department store Mitsukoshi (株式会社三越) opened in 1930 in Gyeongseong (경성, 京城, “Capital City”), old name of Seoul during the Japanese rule. Shinsegae’s logo is a red flower with seven petals. Seven is one of the lucky numbers in Korea like in China and Japan. The “claw” of Korean companies operating in many fields are widespread across the world and they bring Korea from East to all foreign countries.

Floriano Terrano

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The harmony of opposites

Symbols in the culture of Korea

Symbols are important in all the cultures. They express concepts and passions of a whole country with incisive and elegant graphics. In Far East national flags of Taiwan, Japan and Korea have all got symbols: the sun - red in the flag of Japan and white in the flag of Taiwan - and taijitu (太極圖) – the representation of Taoist and Confucian concept of yin and yang opposites – which is present in Korean national flag. During Qing Dynasty China has got a national flag with the imperial dragon and the flaming pearl on a yellow background which is the colour of Manchu Dynasty. Under communism China changed its national flag and adopted the red flag with golden stars of nowadays. Korea national flag taegeukgi (태극기) – used firstly by ambassador Bak Yeong-hyo during his diplomatic mission to Japan in 1882 - has taeguk (태극) in its centre i.e. the Korean variant of Chinese taijitu which was introduced by Ming period author Lai Zhide (來知德, 1525-1604). Like taijitu taeguk symbolizes yin and yang which are opposite and tied together to create the harmonic and continuous circle. Taeguk is coloured with blue and red instead of black and white of Chinese taijitu and the symmetrical patterns are horizontal instead of the vertical patterns of Chinese symbol. Nevertheless the meaning of taeguk is the same as taijitu i. e. blue pattern (eum) symbolizes earth, femininity, night and moon, the red pattern (yang) symbolizes heaven, manhood, day and sun. Korean Air logo is another version of taeguk with the red and blue patterns separated by a white strip. Samtaeguk (삼태극) is a three-colours version of taeguk with the addition of yellow which represents humanity. Perhaps it derivates from Japanese Shinto symbol mitsudomoe (三つ巴) which signifies just humanity, earth and heaven together and which is linked up with Shinto war deity Hachiman. Mitsudomoe is also in the historical flag of Jeju-do island. In taegeukgi beside taeguk there are palgwae (Chinese ba gua, 八卦) i. e. four of eight trigrams of I Ching (易經, “Book of Changes”). The unbroken lines of ba qua represent yang, the broken lines represent yin and they are combined in trigrams groups. The trigrams of Korean flag are: ☰ (geon, 건) in the top left corner, symbol of sky, spring, east, humanity, father, metal and justice), ☲ (ri, 리) in the bottom left corner, symbol of sun, autumn, South, courtesy, son, fire, wisdom and yang, ☵ (gam, 감) in the top right corner, symbol of moon, winter, North, intelligence, daughter, water, vitality and yin) and ☷ (gon, 곤) in the bottom right corner, symbol of earth, summer, West, righteousness, mother and fertility. There are ba qua in historical flags of Vietnam before communism as well. Another Korean symbol derived from Chinese culture signifies the unity of opposites as well: hanja “double happiness” character hee (Chinese shuāngxǐ, 囍, composed of double “happiness” character喜). In Korea as in China this symbol is associated with Lunar New Year and with marriage and it is almost always red which is the colour of good look and life. Due to its double character shape it’s the symbol of the indivisible and harmonic married couple just like taijitu circle. The hibiscus syriacus mugunghwa (무궁화) is the national flower of Korea. The name of this flower native to Asia derived from mugung which means “immortality” and it is symbol of eternity and long life. In fact Korea is described as the country of “splendid” rivers, of mountains and of hibiscus syriacus in national anthem “Song of Love for the Country” (Aegukga, 애국가). Flower is not the only Korean symbol inspired by nature. Animals have got a profound symbolic meaning as well. Fish and bat appear very often in Korean paintings and sculptures. Fish is a Buddhist symbol of possibility to reach Nirvana and to overcome death since it is the only animal which sleeps and dies with open eyes. It often recurs as a symbol in Buddhist temples like Bulguksa in which on the outside there is a wooden gong in the shape of fish. Under the small bells of some Korean Buddhist temples’ angular roofs there is a carved fish and as the story goes once upon a time one of these bronze fishes roamed around the world and in the end went back to its temple since it was homesick. In West bat is a negative symbol of darkness and evil whereas in Korea it is an animal of good wish. In fact Korean pok “bat” (박쥐) has got the same pronunciation of Chinese character of “good luck” and this animal is also a symbol of longevity since it is believed that it can live one thousand years. Obok is a drawing of 5 bats which signifies the five blessings i.e. longevity, health, wealth, love of virtue and natural death. For this reason there are images of bat on pillowcases, furniture or roof tiles. In Far East symbols’ universe is deepest than that of other world’s cultures. National flag of Korea is made of Confucian and Taoist taeguk symbol and other Korean symbols call to mind the opposite yin and yang which tie together to create earth and cosmos. There is no light without darkness, there is no day without night, there is nothing without its contrary. Opposites are always united. Forever and nowadays that’s the mysterious and fascinating meaning of taijitu, the “diagram of the supreme ultimate”.

Floriano Terrano

대조의 조화

한국의 문화 상징

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상징성은 소위 전 세계 문화에서 중요하게 다뤄진다. 이러한 상징성은 문자로 나타내기도 하고 그 부호 속에 담겨있는 실질적인 의미와 에너지를 나타내기도 한다. 대만, 일본 그리고 한국을 포함한 동북아시아에서의 국기에서는 아래와 같은 의미를 상징하고 있다: 일본국기와 대만국기는 태양의 형상을 표현하고 있고 일본은 적색을 대만은 백색을 사용하고 있다. 이 두 형상은 태극도의 모양을 닮아 있으며 도교와 유교의 중심 사상인 음과 양의 대조를 의미한다. 이는 대한민국의 국기에서도 잘 나타나 있다. 그럼 먼저 중국 국기에 대해서 살펴보자. 현재의 국기는 중국에 공산당이 탄생하면서 만들어진 것으로 붉은색 바탕에 노란색의 별이 그려진 것이지만 청나라 시대에는 현재와 다른 모양의 국기를 사용하고 있었다. 노란색 바탕에 푸른색용과 붉은 여의주가 수놓아진 모양 이였다. 이와 마찬가지로 만주국도 국기의 바탕으로 노란색을 이용했었다. 한편, 태극기가 처음으로 사용된 시기는 1882년으로 박영효가 일본에 수신사로 갔을 때 인데, 태극은 중국의 태극도의 변형된 모양으로, 명나라의 창시자중 한명인 래지덕(1525-1604)이 만든 것이다. 태극의 문양은 음과 양의 대조를 표현하는 것으로, 원안의 적색과 청색이 조화롭게 잘 표현되고 있다. 반면 태극도 에서는 백색과 흑색이 그 자리를 대신하고 있지만 같은 사상을 나타낸다. 다만 태극도 에서는 세로로 태극문양이 수 놓여진 반면에 태극기에는 가로로 수가 놓여져 있다. 청색은 음, 땅, 여성, 밤 그리고 달을 적색은 양, 하늘, 남성, 낯 그리고 태양을 의미한다. 대한항공의 로고도 태극의 또 다른 변형의 예이다. (적색과 청색 사이의 흰색은 상반부와 하반부를 구분하고 있다.) 삼태극은 원 태극문양에 노란색이 추가된 또 다른 변형이며 인간의 본질을 의미한다. 아마도 일본 종교 신토의 삼파 문양에서 유래되는 것으로 인간의 본질, 하늘, 땅을 나타내는 동시에 무예의 신인 하치만의 신성성도 포함하고 있다. 삼파 문양은 예전 제주도기 에서도 발견되기도 한다. 태극기의 네귀 에서는 사괘를 볼 수 있는데, 이는 역경(유학의 삼경 중 하나)에서 묘사하고 있는 팔괘(중국어의 八卦에서 전래된 말)를 표현하는 것이다. 태극 팔괘의 모양에서 선이 연속되는 것은 양을 의미, 끊어지는 것은 음을 의미하며 그리고 세 열이 합해져서 하나의 괘를 만들어 낸다. 그 형성은 다음과 같다: “건”은(왼쪽 위 가장자리에 위치) 하늘, 봄, 여름, 인간의 본질, 아버지, 돈과 정당성을 상징, “리”(왼쪽 아래 가장자리)태양, 가을, 남쪽, 친절, 아들, 불, 현명함과 양을 상징, “감”(오른쪽 위 가장자리에 위치) 달, 겨울, 북쪽, 지성, 딸, 물, 생명력과 음을 상징, 마지막으로”곤”(오른쪽 아래 가장자리에 위치)땅, 여름, 서쪽, 청렴, 어머니와 비옥함을 상징한다. 팔괘의 모양은 베트남이 공산주의가 되기 이전에 사용하던 국기에서도 찾아볼 수 있다. 이렇듯 의미가 대조되는 두 단어의 조합은 중국의 문화에서 유래되는 것으로 한국 문화에서도 보여진다: 한자 쌍“희” (중국어, shuāngxǐ, 囍, 기쁠 “희”를 두번 반복 해서 적은 것이다.) 이 단어는 중국과 마찬가지로 한국에서도 음력 설날에 사용되고, 결혼식을 축하하는 인사 말에도 사용된다. 그리고 붉은색이 행복을 상징한다는 이유로 단어의 색깔은 주로 붉은색이다. 이렇듯 두 단어의 조합은 태극도의 상징성인 조화와 비교되고 신랑 신부의 조화로운 결합을 의미한다. 중국의 히비스코과인 무궁화는 대한민국 나라꽃이다. 아시아지역에 분포한 꽃으로 원어 명은 무궁(불멸을 의미)에서 나온 것으로 영원과 장생을 상징한다. 그리고 대한민국 국가인 애국가는 조국을 위해 바치는 사랑의 노래라는 의미로 곡 속에 눈부시게 아름다운 강산과 무궁화가 잘 묘사 되어 있다. 위와 같이 동북아시아에서의 상징성의 존재는 매우 중요하며 그 어떤 지역의 나라들보다 깊게 성찰되었다고 볼 수 있다. 한국의 경우 유교와 도교를 아우르는 상징성을 가진 태극문양을 만들어 냈고, 크고 작은 넓은 의미로 음양의 대조와 천지창조를 의미한다. 어둠 없이는 빛이 존재하지 않고, 밤 없이는 낮이 존재하지 않는 것처럼 대조라는 상반되는 의미 없이는 그 무엇도 탄생되지 않는다. 그리고 최후에는 모든 대조의 성질을 가진 것은 합일로 태어나기 마련이다: 이와 같은 논리는 세계 최고의 문양인 태극도의 사상을 말하는 것으로 굉장히 의미 있고 매력적인 가르침으로 볼 수 있다.

플로리아노 테라노

번역: 정근영 jgyoung0252@gmail.com