Fuels Used in Coal Pits (Yama) #2: Collected Coal
June 1965

Yama no Nenryo #2: Hiroizumi
[Fuels Used in Coal Pits (Yama) #2: Collected Coal]
38.0 x 53.8 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

(Coal was burned and made into coke in spaces between miners' houses.)
Coal refuse was heaped up and its heaps shaped up into mounds like pyramids (bota yama) in the Showa era (1926-1989). However, it had been flatly laid until then. In some middle or large-scale coal pits, miners filled hollows and valleys with refuse, installing winding machines (maki) on heights. Miners also made use of refuse dumps (bota suteba) when they built their houses. Miners often went to the refuse dumps to collect coal mixed in the refuse. Collecting such coal was the daily routine of homemakers and children who did not enter the pit. It was sometimes dangerous because even flatly laid refuse dumps (hirauchi in pit dialect) became considerably large at some spots. However, personnel bosses (torishimari) did not stop them. It was because miners were greatly troubled by the lack of coke (gara). Some people also picked out coke among embers from boilers (kama gasu) as well as among refuse.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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