Women at Coal Pits (Yama) in the Old Days #19 (The Woman Who Was Robbed of Her Lunch by Underground Rats)
1958 - 1963

Mukashi Yama no Onna #19 (Konai Nezumi ni Bento o Torareta Onna)
[Women at Coal Pits (Yama) in the Old Days #19 (The Woman Who Was Robbed of Her Lunch by Underground Rats)]
20.6 x 29.1 cm Ink Painting

Main Text
Since most coal pits in the Chikuho region had thin coal beds, a lot of rats clustered in the pits and did harm to pit workers. They ate wrapping cloths for lunch pails hung on mine pillars before eating rice or other foods packed in both the lids and containers of kuragais (lunch pails made of cedar and bamboo boards) or gagas wrapped in cloths. The miner whose lunch was eaten by rats had to take a half day off (noson or hibote) after half-time work.

The Woman Miner's Cry
"Wow! They ate my lunch!"

Both of the lid and the container composing a kuragai or gaga had an oval-shaped frame of bamboo and a bottom made of cedar board. The container fitted in inside the lid after being turned upside-down. Small and large-sized kuragais were available. The lid and the container composing a large-sized kuragai had the capacity of about 5 go (900 ml) of cooked rice in total.

Text at the Top
A lot of rats doing harm to miners are also found in today's (at the time of writing) small-scale coal pits.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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