Pit Workers in the Old days #5: Buzen-bo #3 (Hatcho-toge Pass)
1958 - 1963

Mukashi no Yamabito #5: Buzen-bo #3 (Hatcho-goe)
[Pit Workers in the Old days #5: Buzen-bo #3 (Hatcho-toge Pass)]
20.9 x 30.1 cm Ink Painting

At that time when no bus was available, pit workers of all ages and both sexes went to Akizuki on foot via Oguma and Miyano in a stream. They climbed up and down Hatcho-toge Pass which was so steep and difficult to go over that it was said that horse shoes would break while going over the pass. Those people had a hard time drenched in sweat, climbing the pass each with a stick in their hand, a bamboo container for the miraculous water and a pack of rice balls on their waist.
An old woman at a famous teahouse at the foot of the pass (in Kaho County on the opposite side of Akizuki) was busy serving gelidium jelly to customers waiting in line. Not only the people in pits but also the people in towns and villages streamed through Hatcho-toge Pass to Akizuki, saying that those who did not wish to receive the benefits of the thankful and grateful lifesaving deity were fools.
Note: It was said that they threw 5 sen (0.05 yen), 10 sen (0.1 yen), or 20 sen (0.2 yen) into the offertory box, though the normal money offering was a 5-rin coin (0.005-yen coin: a half-sen copper) or a tarnished 1-rin coin.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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