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TheCultural Heritage Administration (Administrator Choi Eung-Chon) will designate yutnori as a National IntangibleCultural Heritage item.

Yutnoriis a traditional board game played by two people or two teams. Players throwfour wooden sticks into the air and depending on which side the sticks land, theirtokens proceed on the board. The player or the team whose token has finished thecircuit around the board first wins. Koreans have played yutnori on the first day of the New Year as well as Jeongwol Daeboreum (a traditionalholiday celebrating the first full moon after the Lunar New Year). Althoughindustrialization and urbanization have brought seismic changes to Koreansociety, Koreans have not stopped playing yutnori.As a result, yutnori enjoys a long history and has become Korea’s representativerecreational activity that embodies the Korean people’s identity and values.

Onecannot find words ‘yutnori’ or ‘yut’ in historical documents of the ThreeKingdoms era (57 B.C.-668 A.D.) or Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), but some historiansbelieve yutnori’s root can be tracedto ‘jeopo.’* In the early part of the Joseon period (1392–1910), people playedsimilar game ‘sahi’, while in mid-to late-Joseon period, the game was called ‘cheoksa’ instead. The word ‘cheoksa’ was used throughout theJapanese invasion of Korea (1910-1945) and the following decades.

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

Itwas during the Joseon period that scholars began to take note of yutnori and study it. They made detaileddocumentation in various historical documents how the board and sticks shouldlook as well as the rules of the games. Scholarly aspect of yutnori is quite significant andevident, and the study of yutnoriconducted so far is an invaluable asset.

Yutnori’slogic is based on the Korean people’s understanding of the universe andastronomy. There is the yin and yang and the 28 constellations. The game issimple yet endless variations are always a possibility. There are similar boardgames 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 aboard and only with tokens. Others differ slightly in the shapes and forms ofthe board and the game itself. Today, people play yutnori online, allowing the tradition to be passed down to theyounger generation despite many social changes. Most recently, yutnori designed specifically for theblind emerged, once again showing the game’s versatility and ability totransform and embrace.

Yutnoriis – and has always been – a family or community event. Festivals marking thestart of the New Year as well as JeongwolDaeboreum often feature cheoksa (yutnori) competitions even today,proving that yutnori is indeedsustainable 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 quiteintuitive and easy to learn even for first-timers. It can also accommodate andadapt depending on who’s playing and where it’s being played.

Therefore,yutnori should be designated asnational intangible culture heritage, due to the following reasons:▲it has along history and is being passed down generations, ▲its records can be found inhistorical documents including “Annals of the Joseon Dynasty,” ▲there is symbolismbehind the board’s composition and the yutgarak, or the wooden sticks (namely, doh,gae, geol,yut, moh), making it an ideal subject of academicstudy and use, ▲it has been passed down andsustained among families and communities without any discontinuity.

But the Cultural Heritage Administration will notrecognize a specific group or person in the designation, as it is a culturaltradition that all Koreans across the Korean peninsula keep and enjoy, as arethe cases with ‘Kimchi Damgeugi (Kimchi making)’and ‘Jang Damgeugi (Korean sauce andpaste making).’

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

Arirang (Traditionalfolk song); Jeda (Tea making); Ssireum (Korean wrestling); Haenyeo(Women divers); Kimchi Damgeugi(Kimchi making); Jeyeom (Traditional salt making); Ondol (Underfloorheating system); Jang Damgeugi(Korean sauce and paste making); TraditionalFish-Eosal (Fishing weir); Hwalssoki(Traditional archery); Insam Jaebae andYakyong Munhwa (Cultivation of Ginseng and its medicinal application); MakgeolliBitki (Makgeolli making and sharing); Tteok Mandeulgi (Tteok makingand sharing); Getbol Eoro (Tidalflat harvesting); Hanboksaenghwal (Hanbokculture)

The Cultural HeritageAdministration will continue to support yutnoriand other intangible cultural heritage items that are being widely transmittedthroughout the nation. It will actively encourage academic research andtransmission programs which will promote people to share the values ofintangible cultural heritage and participate in the future transmission. Also TheCultural Heritage Administration is committed to expand the scope ofsafeguarding practices by identifying and designating more items as nationalintangible cultural property to facilitate wider range of our traditionalculture to be safeguarded and passed down to our future generation.