Mine Store (Selling Rice by Measure)
1958 - 1963

Urikamba (Kome no Hakari-uri)
[Mine Store (Selling Rice by Measure)]
21.3 x 30.4 cm Ink Painting

Text at the Right End
At the urikamba (mine store) in B Coal Pit run by Mr. A, the cigarette named Hero was sold at 3 sen 5 rin (0.035 yen) for 10 pieces and tobacco was sold at about 2 sen (0.02 yen) for 4 momme (11.25 g) or 3 sen (0.03 yen) for 5 momme (18.75 g). Cigarettes called Luna and Sunrise did not sell and were not sold in the pit.
Though the store was directly run by the company, their goods were sold at higher than market prices.

Text at the Top Left
The manager cunningly showed his skill in measuring rice for sale with a square measure (masu) of 1 sho (1.8 liters) or 5 go (1/2 sho: 0.9 liter). He did not sell a large volume of rice at a time but sold a little of it every time every day.
If a wife asked him to sell her 1 sho (64,827 grains; sic) of rice, she received only 9 go (58,344 grains; sic) of it. If she complained about it, he would not sell it to her, and she had to accept his evil measurement with resignation. Her mine tokens (kippu or tanken) were not usable at other rice shops, though there were none of them near the pit.


Text at the Bottom
Selling of goods, such as rice, sake, miso (soy-bean paste), shoyu (soy sauce), salt, cooking oil, tobacco, soap, and tenuguis (hand towels) was prohibited except at the mine store, and unlicensed vendors from outside the pit were caught and reprimanded. They stopped selling liquors after the siren (or whistle) at 8 p.m. 80 % of the sake sold by them was water and it was sold at 28 sen (0.28 yen) per sho.
Every homemaker in the pit would complain about the rise in rice price after the price of 1 sho of polished rice rose from 10 sen (0.1 yen) to 12 sen (0.12 yen).

Lettering on the Sake Barrel and Notices on the Wall
Seishu: sake; Japanese rice wine
Tokiwai: brand name of the sake; Everlasting Well
Kin-en: No Smoking
Hiro: brand name of a cigarette; Hero
Chuyu: brand name of a tobacco; Loyalty and Bravery
Kokubu: brand name of a tobacco [named after an old city which merged into today's Kirishima City in Kagoshima and is a major source of tobacco]
Tengu: brand name of a tobacco [The tengu is a Japanese long-nosed goblin.]
Ruuna: brand name of a cigarette; Luna
Sanraisu (normally Sanraizu) : brand name of a cigarette; Sunrise


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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