Pit Workers in the Old Days #2: Rabbit Miners (Lazy Miners)
1958 - 1963

Mukashi no Yamabito #2: Usagi Kofu (Sukabura Kofu; Namakemono)
[Pit Workers in the Old Days #2: Rabbit Miners (Lazy Miners)]
21.2 x 30.2 cm Ink Painting

Usagi kofus (rabbit miners or hare miners) mean lazy miners also dialectally called sukabura kofus (namakemono). Such miners were late to enter and early to exit the pit and did not work enough time to mine expected quantity of coal. Therefore, they often withdrew from their working faces without having lunch. They could do so because a pair of miners (sashi) worked on a single coalface at that time. The above nickname was witty but ironical.
Each of the shown lunch pails at that time called a gaga or kuragai had a container with an oval bamboo frame and the bottom of cedar. It also had a deep lid and it could carry about 4 or 5 go (about 1,400 g to 1,750 g) of cooked rice when both of the container and lid were packed with rice, being piled together. There were smaller gagas for other foods. The canteen for hot water or Japanese tea was made of tin and called a game. Miners at that time usually eat rice with cut pieces of a pickled Japanese radish called a takuan kon kon sold at 1 sen for one whole piece. Their living standard was at a low level.
(The hare has short ears and varies in color, such as white, brown, black and so on.)


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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