Lottery for Prizes as Encouragement to Raise Coal Production (at Ito Coal Pit)
1958 - 1963

Zosan Shorei Kenshohin no Chusen (Ito Tanko)
[Lottery for Prizes as Encouragement to Raise Coal Production (at Ito Coal Pit)]
21.1 x 30.0 cm Ink Painting

It was a clear day on Sunday, August 29, 1943, when it was burning hot because of the late summer heat, that this event was held in Ito Coal Pit. Only the people in this pit did not feel so hot. It was a holiday (rakuten-bi), so the people in the pit did not care about the weather. After holidays for the Bon Festival, a lottery for prizes took place to encourage an increase in coal production during wartime. The pit had encouraged miners to increase coal production with prize money four or five times every year before then. However, the pit was even more crowded with people that day because the lottery for prize goods was held for the first time and everyone in the pit was given the right to draw a lot.
(The labor subsection foreman at that time was Mr. Kajiwara and he was a person of integrity.) The superintendent of the Tagawa Police Office also gave a speech on current affairs.

A chest of drawers, two cupboards, two desks as well as a chest for cooked rice, a washtub, two small dressing tables, a few umbrellas, buckets, coat hangers, and a lot of other furniture were displayed in front of the pit office as if it were a furniture store. The lottery began around 10 a.m. After a while, everyone competitively reached their hand out, wanting to draw the lot for the first prize (i.e. the drawers) with their thumb and forefinger. Additionally, three go (180 ml. x 3) each and two go (180ml. x 2) each of sake was specially rationed out to the underground and surface workers in the pit respectively, raising their morale.
Creator's Additional Notes: After drinking the sake, first repairer Choshichi Matsuyama was stabbed and killed by a certain coworker called Hiji with a pointed carver. It was the first murder case in Ito Coal Pit.

Lettering on the Cards Pasted on the Furniture
itto-sho: first prize
dai juhachiban: number eighteen
nito: second prize
dai niju yonban: number twenty-four
santo: third prize
dai sanjuban: number thirty


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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