Coal Sorting in the Field during the Meiji Era (1868-1912)
1964 - 1967

Meiji Nosentan
[Coal Sorting in the Field during the Meiji Era (1868-1912)]
38.2 x 54.1 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

This grid for sorting coal was woven with # 8 zinc wire so that it had 25-millimeter-square meshes, and had a frame 5 or 6 feet high and about 4 feet wide. Coal was scooped up onto it to separate lump coal from slack coal. It was called a mangoku. It was so light that it could be moved by two women. It was mainly used at small-scale coal pits mining coal by a primitive mining method called tanukibori (raccoon-dog, badger-hole or foxhole method of mining) in the past. Coal from such a pit was transported on the back of a pony or by cart (shariki) drawn by human power (ningen enjin: human engine).

Text at the Bottom Left
Unsorted coal raised from the pit was called kirigomi.

Lettering on the Talisman Attached to the Beam of the Frame of Pit Mouth
Oyamatsumi-no-mikoto: Great Mountain God
Konai Shugo: Guardian Deity of the Pit


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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