The Marmot’s Hole

I was researching a photo exhibit on the history of modern Korean architecture to be held at the Ilmin Museum of Art through April 16 when I came across a rather astonishing photograph of an intact Shinto shrine in Pohang. Having assumed, wrongly it would seem, that all of Korea’s Shinto shrines had been promptly destroyed upon Liberation, I was rather surprised to see some lived on, albeit in functions quite different from those for which they were intended.

As of June 1945, the Japanese had built over 1,000 Shinto shrines in Korea, including 77 jinja and two imperial jingu, including the massive Chosen-jingu, which the Japanese Government-General kindly plopped on the slopes of Namsan–see below:

(pic taken from here)

(pic taken from here)

Also planned was another massive jingu complex in Buyeo-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, but material shortages and American B-29s ensured that it would not be completed by the end of World War II.

Initially, only Japanese colonialists attended Shinto shrines, but from 1935, the authorities began enforcing mandatory worship at the shrines, something that was problematic for a good number of reasons, especially for Korea’s Christian community.

Anyway, this very intrepid blogger (or maybe not so intrepid, as I gather he lives somewhere down in Yeongnam) took the trip down to Pohang to snap some shots of the jinja (like the one above) and surrounding Japanese-style homes found in Guryong Park. Be sure to check them out, and if you like, check out OhMyNews‘ two pieces on the area as well. Also of interest is what is said to be an old Japanese temple next door to the jinja; see pic below and the ones in the link:

There are reportedly more jinja still standing in Korea, including one in Gyeongju (I can’t find anything about it other than it may have been a Japanese Buddhist temple rather than a Shinto shrine) and one on Sorok-do, Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do, which has actually been designated a cultural property.

And while we’re on the subject, the “Mapping the Cultural Vestiges of Japanese Imperialism” has a list of various buildings and place names dating from the colonial era, including a colonial plantation house in Gimje-si, Jeollabuk-do and a rather handsome old Japanese inn (or at least so it’s said) in Gyeongju.