Women at Coal Pits (Yama) in the Old Days #20: Deduction of a Load of Coal from a Mine Car Loaded with Less Coal than Expected (Iregan) or Mixed with Refuse (Botagan)
1958 - 1963

Mukashi Yama no Onna #20: Kan-biki; Iregan/Botagan
[Women at Coal Pits (Yama) in the Old Days #20: Deduction of a Load of Coal from a Mine Car Loaded with Less Coal than Expected (Iregan) or Mixed with Refuse (Botagan)]
20.6 x 29.2 cm Ink Painting

The helper (atoyama; usually a woman) of a coal hewer went to the weighing clerk station by the trestle near the pit mouth to receive their coal tallies, which had been attached to their mine cars, two or three hours after they withdrew from the pit that day. The weighing clerk drew transverse lines above an x-mark on a tally taken from each mine car loaded with less coal than expected. On each tally taken from mine cars loaded with coal mixed with a lot of refuse, he drew a circle and a transverse line per 10 % deduction. Though it was his duty, the weighing clerk was the object of resentment among miners, because he deducted a few tons of coal at a time with a piece of chalk.
Since each pair of miners at that time wrote their hewer's name on each of their home-made tallies, which were as large as a wooden board for steamed fish paste (kamaboko), some female helpers of hewers heaped abuse on their weighing clerk when they received their tallies showing great deduction. These home-made tallies were disused in the Taisho era (1912-1926) and replaced with numbered tin tallies issued by the mine company. Those which were not used underground were bound to each pair's last loaded mine car when they withdrew from the pit.
The above was the situation in pits run by Mr. Aso. Such deductions were rarely made at Sumitomo Tadakuma Coal Pit which was large-scale. However, a half of a mine-car-load of coal was confiscated from coal mined by their workers as a penalty when deductions were made at the pit.

Weighing Clerk's Words in the Inset
"Kyo wa bota ga okatta zo!"
"Your mine cars had a lot of refuse today!"

Words Uttered by the Atoyama above the Inset
"Wah! Mikomi kan da wa. Sango zutsu ja kanryo to mitsuwari da yo."

"Wow! The clerk deducted 30 % of our coal production according to his own expectations. My husband and I have to divide our wages among the three of us!"

Names on the Tallies
Torikoshi [family name] Kuro [given name (for a man)]
[Translator's Notes: This name is a joke which comes from "torikoshiguro" meaning "worry for nothing."]

Sakeno [family name] Nomi(suke) [given name (for a man)]
[Translator's Notes: This name is also a joke meaning "alcohol drinker (sakenomi)."]


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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