The coexistence and harmony of aesthetic consciousness
From a patchwork to a dressing table
Little things come together to create beauty in harmony

Coexistence and harmony with nature
Bathing and danjang rituals going in the four seasons
Cultivate a beautiful body and mind while living a life in harmony with nature

Seasonal customs are the distinctive feature of the Korean culture of bathing and danjang (to dress oneself up). A typical example of seasonal customs is washing one's hair and bathing on Dano, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar – the day when Yang energy is strongest. Korean women would cleanse their face with dewdrops on sweet flag (one of the most well-known oriental medical herbs) and wash their hair in water boiled from sweet flag, which made their face soft and smooth as silk while also helping to keep their hair lustrous and prevent hair loss.

And Koreans bathed themselves in a clean, small stream on Yudu, the 15th day of the sixth month on the lunar calendar. It was a custom to bathe in water to wash away bad energy and maintain one's health throughout summer while warding away heat stroke. Koreans particularly liked to wash their hair in water running to the East because there was a belief that the Yang energy becomes stronger where the sun rises. People in farming villages put newly harvested fruits on ancestral shrines, ridges between rice paddies, or banks around fields and held gosa (shamanistic ritual) praying to the God of Agriculture for a good harvest. Scholars would go to a mountain stream or pavilion bearing drinks and foods to give poetry recitals there in a custom called yudu eon.
The delicate harmony of Yin and Yang underpin the seasonal customs followed by Koreans seeking communion with nature. True natural beauty is defined by harmonious coexistence with nature.

Coexistence and harmony in Korean colors
From dancheong on palaces to the color makeup of women
Harmony of universe and nature in five colors

The five basic colors, obangsaek, also add beauty to the buildings. Dan-cheong (traditional decorative coloring) on old palaces and Buddhist temples is a word that combines the character dan (丹 meaning red) and cheong (靑 meaning blue). This is because it uses all five basic colors with red and blue as the basis. Moreover, traditional bridal makeup was a harmony of the five basic colors.

From dancheong on the palace safeguarding the king to color makeup products on the dressing table of women – the coexistence and harmony of Korean beauty continue to shine through in colors.

Coexistence and harmony in Korean beauty
Harmony between tradition, modernity and different cultures
Creating beauty through harmony

The Korean spirit of harmony is also found in samul nori, the traditional Korean quartet where buk (a barrel drum), janggu (an hourglass-shaped drum), jing (a large gong) and kkwaenggwari (a small gong) are played in harmony, and sinawi, the traditional Korean music in which various instruments like gayageum (Korean zither with 12 strings), geomungo (Korean musical instrument with six strings), haegeum (traditional Korean string instrument), ajaeng (seven-stringed instrument) and piri (Korean double reed instrument) are played in an even tone and tempo. The somewhat free rendering of these musical instruments has been rightly described as finding harmony in disharmony, or harmony in discord, because of the way the music sounds improvised, but not dissonant.

Korean beauty is the beauty of the curve, rather than the straight line. It can be found shining out through all the elements of Korean culture, ranging from ganggangsullae in a circle through to traditional dance, paintings, architecture and chinaware because of the way Korean culture is built on coexistence and harmony.

Korean beauty is defined by its ideal: a perfect mix of coexistence and harmony. It balances traditions with modernity and different cultures as well. It's this culture of consonance which acts to harmonize things to make them shine brighter, rather than putting them in conflict with one another.
Korean beauty is built upon the idea of consonance to create the best of beauty which harmonizes traditions, modernity, and the different cultures of East and West.