The Marmot’s Hole

The Cultural Heritage Administration is listing Tongyeong City’s Underwater Tunnel — the first underwater tunnel in the Far East — as a modern cultural property, but has apparently run into a problem with the what to call it. The CHA normally lists a property under its original name. This is usually fine. In the case of the tunnel, however, there’s a slight problem. See, the original name of the tunnel, which was built between 1927 and 1932 (i.e., during the Japanese colonial era), was the “Taiko Canal Tunnel.” Taiko is the honorific title of Sengoku-era warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who might as well be the Antichrist for many Koreans. According to a Tongyeong City official, the name fell out of usage following Liberation, for obvious reasons. The city and the Tongyeong Historical Society have sent a letter to the Cultural Heritage Administration, kindly asking it to change the listed name of the tunnel when the administration makes its final deliberations.

The Tongyeong City Hall’s English webpage has an interesting story about the canal and the tunnel that runs under it:

The 1,420-meter long, 55-meter wide Tongyeong Canal flows along the southern area of Tongyeong peninsula, with Mireukdo to one side. This canal is quite popular because of the Orient’s largest underwater tunnel located under it.

It is said that during the Battle of Hansan (Japanese Invasion of Joseon in 1592), as the canal became shallower during low tide and Japanese soldiers saw the soft clay, they decided to enlarge the waterway for retreat. This work caused the canal to be called Pandemok, meaning “dug waterway” and Sonjangmok, meaning “dying people” as a number of Japanese soldiers was attacked by the naval forces led by Admiral Yi Sun-shin and lost their life for all their efforts.

It is a historic irony that the waterway made by Japanese forces was again expanded and reopened as a canal by Imperialist Japan in the 20 th century.

After five and one half year’s of work, the Canal was opened along with the Orient’s first Chungmu Underwater Tunnel. Tongyeong Canal was originally named “Dicohori” after the official name of Doyotomi Hideyoshi, the organizer of Imjin War. Before the canal’s construction, an arching stone bridge was used to transport people and products across the canal.

Meanwhile, some dude took some great photos on a 2004 trip along Korea’s southern coast, including some of the Tongyeong area. Check them out, please.