Dumping Coal from Carrying Baskets into a Large Storage Basket
1958 - 1963

Sena kara Bara ni Utsusu
[Dumping Coal from Carrying Baskets into a Large Storage Basket]
21.2 x 30.4 cm Ink Painting

In the primitive tanukiana-shiki (badger-hole) coal mining method in which lots of short haulage ways were driven, the carrier carried out mined coal with a set of a yoke and two baskets called a sena before it was dumped into a big basket called a bara.
The bara was made of bamboo and its capacity was about a half ton. (Miners were usually paid 20 sen per bara of coal, or about 30 sen if they brought out coal from slope bottoms or other distant places.)

Lyrics of "Gotton Bushi" Song at the Top Left
Mitemo zounto suru Kanaya n tan no tsutsumi, sama-chan ga "Ompurupun" to yuta tsutsumi. Gotton! Gotton!

I shudder at the sight of the pond of the pit of Kanaya at which my sweetheart said shuddering, "Ompurupun (onomatopoeia to express one's fear)." Gotton (Clang)! Gotton! (Interjected chants)


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

<<Last pictorial record    Next pictorial record>>

<<Last 10 items  71 | 72｜73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 |   Next 10 Items>>

72／585