Hangeul, a hundred years.
Hangeul (한글), a hundred years.
On 4 November 1926, people gathered for the first ceremony honouring the Korean alphabet and called the day “Gagyanal”. One letter to a square, we retell the hundred years since.
01 — The moving date
Hangeul Day moved
four times.
It began on the 29th day of the ninth lunar month, so the date changed every year. After a conversion to the solar calendar and a recalculation with the Gregorian calendar, it became 9 October in 1945 — based on the “first ten days of the ninth month” written in the Haerye edition found in 1940.
02 — How the letters were made
Shaped after where
each sound is made.
The Haerye edition of Hunminjeongeum says the five basic consonants imitate the speech organs. Red lines are the letters; grey lines are an explanatory cross-section of the mouth.
ㄱthe root of the tongue blocking the throat象舌根閉喉之形 · velar (molar) sounds ㄴthe tongue touching the upper gum象舌附上腭之形 · lingual sounds ㅁthe mouth象口形 · labial sounds ㅅa tooth象齒形 · dental sounds ㅇthe throat象喉形 · glottal (throat) sounds
- Heaven a round dot 形之圓 象乎天
- Earth ㅡ a level line 形之平 象乎地
- Human ㅣ a standing line 形之立 象乎人
03 — A hundred years of records
Letters carved into time
- 1443
Twenty-eight letters of eonmun
December 1443 (25th year of King Sejong)
At the end of the entries for the twelfth month of 1443, the Veritable Records of King Sejong note, without giving a day, that “this month the king created 28 letters of eonmun”. It is the first official record of the alphabet’s creation.
- 1446
The Haerye edition of Hunminjeongeum
First ten days of the ninth month, 1446 (28th year of King Sejong)
Jeong In-ji’s postface in the Haerye edition is dated “the first ten days of the ninth month of the 28th year of Sejong”. It is often called the “promulgation”, but scholars read the Sillok entry for that month as the completion of the Haerye manuscript.
- 1926
The first ceremony: “Gagyanal”
4 November 1926 (29th day of the ninth lunar month)
For the 480th anniversary of the promulgation, the Korean Language Research Society (today’s Hangeul Society) and Sinmin-sa held the first ceremony at the Sikdowon restaurant. The day was named Gagyanal, after the “ga-gya-geo-gyeo” drill used to learn the script, and the name later settled as Hangeul Day.
- 1945
The beginning of 9 October
1945
After liberation, public ceremonies began to be held on 9 October — the solar equivalent of the tenth day of the ninth month, the last of the “first ten days”.
- 2026
A century of resonance
2026
A hundred years since the first Gagyanal in 1926, 580 years since the Haerye edition (1446) and a hundred years since Hunmaengjeongeum.
04 — Poster Studio
One letter to a square,
one line to remember.
Set your words in manuscript-paper squares and save them as a poster. Your text is drawn inside your browser and sent nowhere.
Make a posterThe first letter of
the next hundred years.
This site is an independent memorial project that belongs to no institution. The sources and check dates for every historical text are on About & Sources.