The Underground Passage of Shinanomachi

2022/03/31

Image: Interior passage of the underground tunnel

The Shinanomachi Campus is divided into the "Shinanomachi site," which houses Buildings 1 and 2, and the "Daikyomachi site," which houses the Kitasato Memorial Library and Building 3, separated by a road. While one can move between Buildings 2 and 3 via a bridge without crossing the road, did you know there is an underground passage beneath the road that is no longer used for its original purpose?

Since the expiration date for the temporary West Ward in Daikyomachi was 1931, it was demolished, and an Annex (also called the West Ward at the start of construction) was built in 1932. The "Shinanomachi Underground Passage" was constructed at the same time as a "connecting passage between the West Ward and the existing wards." The passage is a 23-meter-long, 2.1-meter-wide slope. On the Shinanomachi side, it was closest to the "Ha Ward" of the main hospital building, and could be accessed via stairs or an elevator. The Daikyomachi side connected to the basement of the Annex, and a skylight was installed in the porte-cochère of the Annex's main entrance to bring light into the passage. In the "Keio Nursing 100 Years Interview: Nursing Professor Shinzo Koizumi During the War" published in the December 2018 issue of this magazine, stories are told of the hardships of evacuating patients to the Annex through the pitch-black underground passage during nighttime air raids, suggesting that many people used it.

During World War II, more than 60% of the University Hospital was damaged, and the "Ha Ward" was also destroyed by fire. The main hospital building was constructed on that site in 1948, and the underground passage was adjacent to this building as well, being used for passage to the Daikyomachi side.

In the New University Hospital Building (currently Building 2), completed in 1986 as the largest project commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Juku, the underground passage was connected via the basement dry area. According to the Department of Nursing, patients did not use it; it was used by hospital staff and students. However, because it was scary, nurses and students of the Kosei Women's Junior College only used it on rainy days, giving the impression that there were few users overall. Additionally, carts carrying meals to the Annex ward also passed through.

During the planning of Building 3 (South Wing), completed in 2012, various considerations were made regarding the utilization of this underground passage. However, because the ceiling was low and the slope was too steep for stretchers, and most importantly, because the plan for Building 3 did not include a basement level, its use as a walkway was abandoned. Instead, it was decided to repurpose it as a pipe space for electrical conduits to the Daikyomachi site. The door on the Building 2 side remains, but the Building 3 side is sealed with a concrete wall.

Thus, the Shinanomachi Underground Passage has finished its original role, but it will soon be 90 years since its construction, making it the second oldest facility on campus after the Building for Preventive Medicine and Public Health. In time, it may become the oldest historical facility on the Shinanomachi Campus.

(Yu Yanome, Administrative Project Director)