The works of Sakubei Yamamoto
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Pit Workers in the Old Days: Underground Officers
March 1965

Mukashi no Yamabito: Konai Yakunin
[Pit Workers in the Old Days: Underground Officers]
38.1 x 54.4 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

Text on the Right
The Chief (shunin) Underground Foreman was called the Underground Manager (konai kantoku) in the past and is called the Chief of Mining Section (saiko kacho) today.
Today, the underground boss is called a saiko gakari or konai gemba. However, he was called a toryo in the middle of the Meiji era (1868-1912), and later called a kogashira. The title of the Underground Manager was changed to Chief. The deputy chief called an omawari assisted the chief, taking charge of repairs and the excavation of slopes. The kogashira under his command took charge of coalfaces and directly made efforts in mining coal. Large-scale coal pits (oyama) had other officers, such as the fire boss, ventilation clerk, shot firer, etc. and each of them only did his own job. However, the kogashira in a small-scale coal pit (koyama) had to do everything all by himself. He estimated the expected production of coal, allotted miners coalfaces, blasted, dealt with debris produced by collapse, and also worked as an underground carpenter and repairer. Many of the things he did went unseen during accidents.

Description of the Inset on the Right
Levels (kanekata) sometimes collapsed because lagging (narugi) between frames and roofs broke even though the frames did not break. In the 2nd shift working hours, there were no day laborers except miners. Therefore, the kogashira removed a half ton or one ton of debris himself, or the debris would affect the production of coal. It was a problem peculiar to small-scale coal pits.

Description of the Inset on the Left
In some coal pits, other than silicified wood (matsuiwa), troublesome rock layers called shimes were found in coalfaces. They lay in the middle of coalfaces and looked like (whitish) thick transverse lines as thick as belts. If miners hit them with their pickaxes, sparks flew from them and the tips of the pickaxes were dulled. Two or three layers about 10 centimeters thick were sometimes found in tiers in a coalface. In this case, an extraordinary allowance called a maito hojo or a tsukehiyaku for blasting was paid to miners working on the coalface in the latter half of the Meiji era.

Text at the Top Left
Tsukehiyaku was an extraordinary allowance added to wages for mined coal.

The coil-shaped incense in this underground boss's left hand was used for igniting blasting fuses.

Lettering on the Underground Boss's Shoulder Bag
Kayaku: Explosives


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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