Pit Workers in the Old Days #3 (Eating Cooked White Rice; Making Straw Sandals)
1958 - 1963

Mukashi no Yamabito #3 (Hakumai Meshi; Waraji Zukuri)
[Pit Workers in the Old Days #3 (Eating Cooked White Rice; Making Straw Sandals)]
21.1 x 30.5 cm Ink Painting

"Kome no meshi nyaa saa (sai) wa iryansen (We don't need other food when we eat rice.)" Children in the coal pit around 1899 would also mimic this phrase as the adults did as if it were a motto of pit workers. It was said that each miner ate a pickled Japanese radish (takuan konkon) a day, which was sold at 1 sen (0.01 yen), as their supplemental food to rice. It was because they thought that eating a lot of side dishes was a waste and unnecessary in order to enjoy the delicious taste of cooked rice, which shone as bright as crystal that their noses looked as if they were lit up. They did not buy straw sandals (waraji) sold at 1 sen 5 rin (0.015 yen) a pair, but they made them by themselves. Some miners reportedly returned to their hometown in glory after saving a lot of money by enduring every hardship and severely tightening their purse strings. Though they did not think about or even know about food values, which people today always consider, they might have been born with naturally strong bodies.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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