Digging a Japanese Spider Hole (and sleeping in it!!!)

Japaneses Spider Hole Playlist:

I build an authentic Japanese military spider fox hole with just a few basic tools including a small army shovel, some metal buckets, and some rough saw timbers to help create a safe place to sleep overnight in case of impending war.

A spider hole is mirrors the hole created by a trapdoor spider who will tunnel and then cover the top of the door to conceal itself.

A spider hole is usually shoulder-deep, and round, protective enough to camouflaged lid a solder from attack. A soldier will be able to stand upright and then fire a weapon without being overly exposed. A spider hole is different than a foxhole in that a foxhole is usually deeper and designed to hide or conceal a fighter.

A spider hole is usually hastily dug, whereas a foxhole is done with more care.

Spider holes were used during World War II by Japanese. Saddam Hussein during the Iraq war was captured hiding in a spider hole.

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"Self-Reliance" is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's recurrent themes: the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his own instincts and ideas. This channel will approach self reliance from a modern perspective. and will focus on various build projects using modern amenities, and tools to build a completely self reliant lifestyle.

[Notanothercrayon]

I have free time, and I decided to spend 47 minutes and 42 seconds of it watching guys dig a hole, and dreaming about digging my own hole.

[Minuteman_Expeditions-wocp]

The Vietnam tunnels were dug in hard clay too, and they made their tunnels with dome or triangular roofs so as to support the roof weight and save it if a tank or other vehicle drove over it

[masertaser]

Spider holes often weren’t just one hole, one of the greatest examples of this was on Iwo Jima where the Garrison defending the island dug miles of interconnected tunnels accords the whole length of the island. Even employing hidden doors so when a bunker was cleared by invading forces new troops could flood in and shoot them from behind. Often, a single hole housed an entire unit and cosisted of a kitchen, a sleeping quarters and at least two tunnels of escape. The Vietcong used this method of spider holes a lot in order to conceal their position and hide from the napalm and American forces.

[Lorekeeper_of_the_Forlorn]

It’s kinda nice how one-on-one the conversation feels when it switches to just him in the hole. Almost as if your in it with him.

[strangeredits]

Watchhed all 47 minutes and I have to agree that it is a glorious hole. I'm about to do an internet search to see if anybody else has made a hole of such glory. Great work.

[davebewshey]

I knew a guy whose grandfather was in Vietnam and was a tunnel rat, He said the roots were incredible, could not believe that they could dig through that many roots... Makes sense being a rainforest/jungle

[calcustom]

You want to dig the entrance hole slightly deeper than the sleeping hole, with a slope into a sump hole going down and away as deep as you can get it. That way water that makes its way into the spider hole will flow down into the sump and away from your sleeping position. It would have also been used to catch grenades so that you are safe from the blast if a GI were to ever find your position.

[jimd.]

When I was young my brother and I dug a tunnel in our back yard in Massachusetts. We watched the great escape and wanted a tunnel with tracks, we had a lot of old pallets to take apart to use to shore up the tunnel. We hit clay at 4' and dug down to 12' then we dug a horizontal tunnel with wooden tracks to move the dirt out. We build a wooden fort over it, and had a pop out spot 20' way. I bet that tunnel is still there today, probably not safe, but we lived on 3 acres of land and our old family house is still standing even though we don't own the land anymore.

[JULESRULES]

I spoke to a Vietnam vet who said that a lot of these spider holes existed in rubber plantations. The holes were dug to store water from heavy monsoon rains to keep the trees watered over the year. They would use these existing holes to attack.

[hobojoe]

Was in the US Army, can confirm. Loved digging holes/trenches when bored, some time a few shovels and a couple bundles of 550 cord and you can make yourself an improvised pillbox.

[JDLarge]

No thank you! I’ve dug my share of foxholes and fighting positions over my career but digging down and across underground other than for a grenade sump freaks me out. It only take having a position collapse on you ONCE and you’ll never do it again, or at least I didn’t… I had my position so well camouflaged that I had a tracked vehicle roll up and park over me for a minute, then as it locked a lateral taking off it almost got stuck tipping deep and sinking in burying me to my teeth! Glad I used a lot of logs!
Fun watching you do it though, even though I was in knots lol!

[zramirez]

The 2 biggest issues I see are the lack of a water sump (grenade sump too if you want to be legit), but far more importantly you need ventilation - if someone were to duplicate this and spend the night inside, a thin layer of snow would seal the hatch and you'd be staring down potential suffocation very quickly

[harveyw]

Don't know where your hole is or if someone has already mentioned this but the gravel you ran into is rounded, which indicates it was part of a water course of some type. If you are in or close to a gold-bearing region you should test pan the lowest part of your excavated gravel. You might be surprised at what you could find.

[tyroon.Q]

I just was searching vids of people digging. I just LOVE digging and i can just dig a week long and still not get bored. I never met anyone that is just a insane as me. Now i see this and i know i am not the only one! Love these kind of videos!

[jeffjefferson]

You may want to have some spreader to hold the sides from coming into the tunnel, and keeping the beam up. Also, you want to have dirt backfilling on top of the beam, so the earth has something to lean on, so it wont collapse on it. Just nail two planks to the horizontal beams on both sides.

Those are "hexamine tablets", you can make RDX explosives if you nitrate those, and you can make a primary explosive (HMTD) if you make a peroxide with it. Its best not to use fire underground unless you have got a ventilation pipe going down there, and preferably two.

Greetings,


Jeff

[sdbigguy]

Great project. I find it amazing that I watched over 45 minutes of a couple of guys digging a hole. I am claustrophobic and you had me on edge the whole time. You kept talking about Japanese Spider Holes but I kept thinking Hogan’s Hero’s… must be when I grew up. Expected to see Dom walking through the woods and spreading dirt out the bottom of his pant leg to hide the fact you were digging a tunnel. Now that I’m older and fatter I would never fit through that hatch. Was was a U S Navy photographer for 20 years but didn’t know how much guys like to dig holes until I spent a tour with Seabees doing military training exercises. I agree, freedom isn’t free and we have to work for it. Thanks for sharing.

[janoskis]

I've spent almost 50 minutes watching two guys digging a hole and I have no idea why but I enjoyed it.

[DAlpha]

Retired US Army Combat Vet. Japanese (WWII) and VC (Viet Nam) used those spider holes & knew they would be dying in place when they used them. I've built tunnels as a kid with uncles that had been miners watching over us & probably the most dangerous thing for kids to do or adults, without knowledge of the dangers involved. I would never use any ignition or open flame in a hole with a dead end tunnel that has no ventilation from both ends. Fumes & gases can gather at the bottom of a pit and kill as they are heavier than O2. Every 10-15 yrs there are kids who die from cave-ins in these types of contraptions. I'd recommend demo the thing when you're done. I love building crazy stuff, but tunnels are the most dangerous, IMO.

[alphazuluz]

I have dug a bunch of holes. I don’t think many people understand the amount of work this was. This was not an easy few days.

[williamwallace]

04:30 Those folding Army shovels are called "entrenching tools." We used them for digging foxholes. They can be locked upen, as it was when you picked it up, or at 90 degrees, or folded against the handle to put in a cover that attaches to a pistol belt for carry.