Fig. 56.—Diagrams to show the possible derivation of the swastika from the inscription of two S-like lines (or "ogees") within a circle so as to divide the circle into four bent cones. B and C are ogee and rectangular swastikas easily produced by modification of the encircled figure.
FIG. 54 represents a remarkable design which is a sort of national emblem, a universally accepted badge of triumph and honour in Japan, and is called "Tomoye"—meaning "triumph." The black and white portions are in that country painted respectively red and yellow. It is simply a circle divided into two equal cone-like figures by the inscription within it of a doubly-curved line like the letter S. Where and how did the Japanese get this badge? Who invented it, or from what natural object is it copied? A modified Tomoye with the cones dislocated is used as the national flag of Korea. A single one of these curious, tapering, one-sided cones is closely similar to the cone-like figures sometimes called "pines" which one sees on Indian shawls. The origin of these is sometimes said to be a copying of some fruit or vegetable growth, but is really not ascertained—and is possibly half of a Tomoye! A great circular altar-stone has been found in Central America, 5 ft. across, divided by a deep S-shaped groove into two equal one-sided cones (Fig. 59) like the Tomoye. The figure formed by an S within a circle is found in the writings of the ancient Chinese philosopher Chu-Hsi. He gives a series of symbols representing (according to him) the history of the universe. They are shown in Fig. 55, and are explained as follows. The empty circle A represents the original "void"—the boundary line is conventional. After untold æons the great monad appeared. It is represented by B. Then we get the division of the great monad (now called "Tai-I") into two, shown in C of our Fig. 55—singularly recalling the division of the nucleated cell or protoplasmic unit of animal and vegetable structure. The two halves, however, in this case represent the feminine called "Yin" and the masculine called "Yang." The last drawing, D of Fig. 55, shows the Yin and the Yang in rotatory motion. This is indicated by the S-like bending of the diameter, and the consequent formation of a figure like the Tomoye. By this motion the visible universe is supposed—by the philosopher Chu-Hsi—to be produced. The figure marked D is described as a "cosmological symbol." It does not help us to the origin of the figure showing the division of the circle as in the Tomoye, for it dates only from about the twelfth century of our era.
If we suppose the circle divided, as in the Tomoye, to be a very ancient badge or device, dating from prehistoric man, then it is probably derived from a natural object. And this object was probably a ground-down transverse section across a whelk-shell, for if one makes such a section just above the mouth of the shell at right angles to its length, one gets two adjacent chambers of the spirally-coiled shell separated by an S-like partition, the resulting figure given by the slice across the shell being that of the "tomoye," with its paired, one-sided, cone-like constituents. Shells are amongst the chief ornaments used by prehistoric and modern savage man. Large ones are ground down to make armlets. The perception of the spiral as a decorative line is almost certainly due to the handling and grinding-down of snail shells, and, indeed, we find spirals and reversed spiral scrolls engraved on bone by the Pleistocene cave-men (see Fig. 29).
Fig. 57.—Terra-cotta cone with a seven-armed sun-like figure engraving on it. Troy. (Schliemann.)
The Ægæan people of the Greek islands (of whom the Mykenæans are a part) copied a variety of forms of marine animals in their decorations of pottery, and, in fact, natural shapes were the basis of their decorative art. They simplified and "grammatized" their more nature-true designs into badges and symbols.
