[Opinion] Seodaemun (Western Gate)

The city of Seoul was surrounded by castle walls that ran through Mt. Bookak, Mt. Inwang, Mt. Nam and Mt. Nak. All combined, those walls reach up to 17km. The figure pales in comparison with the Great Wall of China, but is considered quite long. The castles have four main gates and four small gates that lead to eight provinces across the country. During Chosun Dynasty, the gates were closed at 10:00 p.m. upon the sound of a bell to be open at 4:00 a.m. in the following day. Of the four gates, people today are mostly familiar with Sungryemun known as Namdaemun, and Heunginjimun called Dongdaemun. The other two, Seodaemun and Bukmun have fallen into relative obscurity.

▷Seodaemun, originally named Donuimun, was demolished by the Japanese colonists in 1915 and disappeared in the history. It is said that they broke down the gate, which was located on the now Shinmunro Street 2, for road expansion. The gate was, however, in a different place when the dynasty first built the castle in 1396. According to the historical record, it was seated in the hillside of Sajik-dong in the 13th year of Taejong’s rule, and later removed twice. Meanwhile, Bukmun, or Sukjeongmun, is still located in Samcheong Park near Cheongwaedae, but remains inaccessible due to some security reason.

▷Seodaemun has witnessed much of the history of this country. When Lee Gual’s uprising broke out in the second year of Injo, rebels broke into the castle through this gate only to be expelled by the royal army later. When the rebels tried to escape out, people closed the gate to shut down their escape route in a gesture of rejection. The gate was also a passage to China and there was a big marketplace nearby where a wide variety of products were traded. It was this gate that Japanese assassins chose to sneak in to kill Queen Myeongseong, a sad part of the history.

▷Donuimun restoration project was unveiled recently. In fact, the castle in this capital city was built based on the topographical theory and the principle of yang and yin. In particular, Bukmun was believed to be strongly yin, while Namdaemun is yang. So when there was a drought, they closed the latter and kept the former open. Bukmun had remained closed for some hundred years because they believed that strong yin adversely affected women’s behavior. The Seodaemun project is seen as restoration of a part of the history, in this regard. With the gate built in the middle of the city, however, it might aggravate the traffic in the city. The government, therefore, must take due measures before launching the project.

Hong Chan-shik, Editorial Writer, chansik@donga.com