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The Cultural Heritage Administration (Administrator Choi Eung-Chon) plans to designate yutnori as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage item.

Yutnori is a traditional board game played by two people or two teams. Players throw four wooden sticks into the air and depending on how the sticks land, their tokens proceed on the board. The player or the team whose token has finished the circuit around the board first wins. Koreans have played yutnori on the first day of the new year as well as Jeongwol Daeboreum (a traditional holiday celebrating the first full moon after the Lunar New Year). Although industrialization and urbanization have brought seismic changes to Korean society, Koreans have not stopped playing yutnori. As a result, yutnori enjoys a long history and has become Korea’s representative recreational activity that embodies the Korean people’s identity and values.

One cannot find words ‘yutnori’ or ‘yut’ in historical documents of Three Kingdoms era (57 B.C.-668 A.D.) or Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), but some historians believe yutnori’s root can be traced to ‘jeopo.’* In the early part of the Joseon period(1392–1910), people played similar game‘sahi’, while in mid-to late-Joseon period, the game was called ‘cheoksa’ instead. The word ‘cheoksa’ was used throughout the Japanese invasion of Korea(1910-1945) and the following decades.

*jeopo: A game during Baekje Kingdom(18 B.C. - 600 A.D.) where players used wooden dice to compete.

It was during the Joseon period that scholars began to take note of yutnori and study it. They made detailed documentationin various historical documents how the board and sticks should look as well as the rules of the games. Scholarly aspect of yutnori is quite significant and evident, and the study of yutnori conducted so far is an invaluable asset.

Yutnori’s logic is based on the Korean people’s understanding of the universe and astronomy. There is the yin and yang and the 28 constellations. The game is simple yet endless variations are always a possibility. There are similar board games around the world, but one can say that yutnori is indeed quite unique in its tools, the board and the rules.

Also, within Korea, each region has developed its own style of yutnori. Geongung Yutnori is actually played without a board and only with tokens. Others differ slightly in the shapes and forms of the board and the game itself. Today, people play yutnori online, allowing the tradition to be passed down to the younger generation despite many social changes. Most recently, yutnori designed specifically for the blind emerged, once again showing the game’s versatility and ability to transform and embrace.

Yutnori is – and has always been – a family or community event. Festivals marking the start of the new year as well as Jeongwol Daeboreum often feature cheoksa(yutnori) competitions even today, proving that yutnori is indeed sustainable throughout generations. It is intriguing how it’s the game of luck, yet there is variability stemming from the number of cases. It is also quite intuitive and easy to learn even for first-timers. It can also accommodate and adapt depending on who’s playing and where it’s being played.

To sum up, yutnori should be designated as national intangible culture heritage, due to the following reasons:▲it has a long history and is being passed down generations, ▲its records can be found in historical documents including “Annals of the Joseon Dynasty,” ▲there is symbolism behind the board’s composition and the yut garak, or the wooden sticks(namely, doh, gae, geol, yut, moh),making it anideal subject of academic study and use, ▲it has been passed down and sustained among families and communities without any discontinuity.

But the Cultural Heritage Administration will not recognize a specific group or person in the designation, as it is a cultural tradition that all Koreans across the Korean peninsula keep and enjoy, as are the cases with ‘Kimchi Damgeugi(Kimchi making)’ and ‘Jang Damgeugi(Korean sauce and paste making).’

* National Intangible Cultural Heritage items that do not recognize a specific group or person (Total: 15 items, as of now):

Arirang (Traditional folk song); Jeda (Tea making); Ssireum (Korean wrestling); Haenyeo (Women divers); Kimchi Damgeugi (Kimchi making); Jeyeom (Traditional salt making); Ondol (Underfloor heating system); Jang Damgeugi (Korean sauce and paste making); Traditional Fish-Eosal (Fishing weir); Hwalssoki (Traditional archery); Insam Jaebae and Yakyong Munhwa (Cultivation of Ginseng and its medicinal application); Makgeolli Bitki (Makgeolli making and sharing); Tteok Mandeulgi (Tteok making and sharing); Getbol Eoro (Tidal flat harvesting); Hanboksaenghwal(Hanbok culture)

The Cultural Heritage Administration will receive opinions for 30 days on the planned designation of yutnori as national intangible cultural heritage, before making a final decision. People can share their views on the designation through the administration’s website (http://www.cha.go.kr), as well as social networking services (Facebook and Instagram) of ‘K-Intangible Heritage.