Yin and yang principles were taught before the Five elements because Yin and yang lay at a much deeper level in nature, as it were, and it’s the most ultimate principle conceivable in ancient Chinese cultures. It started in China, where it was taught alongside the Five Elements in the School of Naturalists. Yin and yang is a principle that’s been around for centuries. Yin and Yang remain the biggest principle that is associated with beliefs of some things being lucky or unlucky, and also in considerations for zodiac signs and directions when it comes to arranged marriages. But even with disuse, it had permeated into all the levels of society in Japan, persisting into modern times. These principles were not in use for too long, though. The school’s main representative Zou Yan taught about the significance of the principles of yin and yang, and these teachings permeated through different aspects of Chinese thought and teachings, including medicine, astrology, art, divination, and the government.īut it wasn’t until early 675CE that the concept was introduced in Japan, where it was used to influence divination, the government, and control of the calendar that were all based on the principles of yin and yang.

Yin and yang is believed to have been formed based on the cosmology school of thought or what’s also referred to as the Yinyang School.

The origin of the concept is rather ancient, though, and its earliest mention is believed to date back to China, in the 3rd century BCE.

While the origins of this principle remain rather obscure, the concept is associated with the Chinese idea of wuxing or the Five Phases, namely, wood, metal, fire, water, and earth and it’s also believed both of these ideas lend substance to the characteristics Chinese belief in the rather cynical theory associated with dissolution and becoming, as well as the inherent interdependence between nature and human activity.

Yin and yang color me blue