Koffee & Kpop

Back in November, I joined a facebook group dedicated to manhole covers. I posted one of my entries below:

I thought I’d share my collection thus far on this website as well!

Three honorable mentions:

Manhole cover in 인사동 (Insa-dong, Seoul) featuring 매듭 (maedup), traditional Korean knots that have been around for centuries and popularized during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). Presumably influenced by Chinese traditional knots, 매듭 are more 3-dimensional than other traditional knots found in many Asian cultures. Insadong is an area known for its traditional crafts, teahouses, Korean food restaurants, and a great place to find more traditional Korean souvenirs.

水 is Hanja for “water.” Hanja, a Korean system of writing using Chinese characters, was used before the creation of Hangeul in 1446, the current writing system of Korean. You can expect to see Hanja on old buildings like the palaces, but I was surprised to see it here. 제수변 means “water fountain” so I believe this is an access port to an underground water supply.

Hangeul was not used in official documents until the late 19th century, so Hanja remains a subject taught in school, although one easily forgotten.

I tripped on this as I was walking around playing Ingress and did a double-take.

Remember my 水 posting, Hanja for water?

I had tripped, not on 水, but it’s modern day Hangeul–물.

When Hangeul was originally created, not everyone was pleased. After all, it opened up education and literacy to the masses, and not merely the elite.

But it’s been a tumultuous journey. Japanese was actually the official language of Korea for a few years during the war. At other times, Hangeul was seen as a “vulgar” script. It was only in the mid 1970s that the government saw a move away from Hanja in official documents–which, I suspect, would mean the Hanja water manhole covers predate the mid 70s and the Hangeul ones are more recent.