Women in Coal Pits (Yama) in the Old Days #16 (Well with a Sweep; Woman Drawing Water)
1958 - 1963

Mukashi Yama no Onna #16 (Hanetsurube no Ido; Mizu o Kumu Onna)
[Women in Coal Pits (Yama) in the Old Days #16 (Well with a Sweep; Woman Drawing Water)]
20.6 x 29.3 cm Ink Painting

Old San-nai Coal Pit (today's Aso Farm) which was opened in 1896 and closed in 1910 had a well with a sweep (hanetsurube) 500 or 600 meters away to the west of the miners' row houses. The well was about 4 meters deep and its water level dropped so low in summer that the sweep-bucket scraped its bottom. At night or around noon when it was hottest and people rarely went for water, the water level would rise enough to fill the sweep-bucket. Additionally, the road to the well was a very hard pass to take for the people in the pit while shouldering a pole and a pair of pails because they had to cross a railroad track and climb up and down causeways along the way.
The above well was to the west of Kasamatsu-toge Pass of route 201 as of 1964.

Senryu (short witty and humorous seventeen-syllabled poems)
Sagarite mo yagate uwamuku hanetsurube.
Even if the sweep falls down once, it will rise up again before long.

Sao nigiri sotto sashikomu hanetsurube.
While holding the sweep, I gently lower it deeply into the well.

Hanetsurube yama no saodori natsukeoya. (Text at the Top Next to the Title)
The transport man (saodori: pole operator) at the pit must have named it (hanetsurube) because it has a pole (sao).


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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