Pit Workers in the Old days #14: Luxurious Celebration at a Semi-Governmental Pit
1958 - 1963

Mukashi no Yamabito #14: Oyakata Hinomaru no Goka na Shukuga
[Pit Workers in the Old days #14: Luxurious Celebration at a Semi-Governmental Pit]
21.2 x 30.4 cm Ink Painting

On November 3rd, 1910, a luxurious celebration of the Emperor's Birthday was held at Futase Branch of Yahata Ironworks which was, at that time, located in an area later included in today's Iizuka City. At the time of this painting, the pit is called Nittetsu Central Coal Pit. The great hustle and bustle of the celebration surprised people living in Kaho County and Iizuka City very much, though it was probably held for advertising the new coal pit.
Among various decorated dolls, those that represented Kiyomasa Kato killing a tiger were especially outstanding. The height of the Kiyomasa doll was about 20 shaku (about 6 meters) or more. The tiger doll was as long as the Kiyomasa doll was tall. Electric light bulbs were used as their eyes and they looked beautiful in the evening. When the Kiyomasa doll jabbed out its spear, the tiger doll stood up and roared at it. The roaring sounds reached Kamimio Coal Pit as far as 6 km away from the site, and produced a great sensation. At that time, the people at coal pits in this district did not know about the existence of the electric siren [used to make the roaring sounds] and the site was crowded with them pushing and shoving.
A similar celebration held in the following year, 1911, gathered a fairly large number of people. However, the number of the attendees was considerably smaller than in the previous year.
The celebration of the Emperor's Birthday in 1910 was the king of events and went on record as being the largest scale event that had ever been seen at coal mines in the Chikuho region.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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