Pit Workers in the Old Days #8: Show Box #1
1958 - 1963

Mukashi no Yamabito #8: Nozoki #1
[Pit Workers in the Old Days #8: Show Box #1]
21.1 x 30.1 cm Ink Painting

I do not know which Chinese character(s) was (were) used to represent this device, but it was called nozoki by pit workers. A pair of interpreters who were husband and wife visited the pit with a large nozoki show box on the only holiday (exchange day) or payday (mainly mine tokens were given as pit worker's wages) every month. Another single nozoki interpreter shouldering a small show box visited the pit also on workdays. The nozoki had 10 or more round glass lenses about 60 millimeters in diameter and the admission fee for an adult was 2 sen (0.02 yen), for a kid 1 sen. The interpreters called kamban-tatakis sang a song and made motions as if they were dancing, each keeping rhythm by tapping the shelf board on the show box with an about 1-meter-long thin bamboo stick in their hand. They kindled the interest of the audience with the melody of their song in which Rokyoku (recitation of stories accompanied by shamisen) and Otemoyan (title of a comical Japanese folk song) were seemingly mixed, repeating "Choito-chobo!" two or three times as interjected chants between every gap of the song.
The pictures on the signboard were especially painted beautifully in deep colors, and the pictures in the show box were painted on 15 to 20 paper screens, to be lit up and shown alternately. This show was more sophisticated than picture-story shows in these days.
Some of the pictures used in the show box were of old and new plays. However, it goes without saying that unexpected scenes depicting cruel bloodshed at that time were welcomed by the people in the pit.
In this nozoki show, pictures showing a massacre of the family of the avaricious village chief by a group of villagers were displayed, which occurred in Shindo Village in Osumi County, Kanagawa (Shimososhu) on June 27th in 1879.

Lettering on the Signboard on the Show Box
Shindo Mura Kocho Yashiki Yakiuchi Jiken [These Chinese characters are written from right to left.]
Fire Attack against the House of the Chief of Shindo Village
Goyoku Oni Kocho Matsumoto Choemon Goroshi:
Murder Case of the Avaricious Village Chief Choemon Matsumoto
Ikka Shichinin Zansatsu: Seven Family Members Massacred
Kamuri [family name] Yaemon [given name] Hoka Niju Yonmei Shukaisha Sonmin: Yaemon Kamuri and 24 Other People Were the Ringleaders of the Rioting Villagers


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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