Windlass for Yamano Coal Pit
1964 - 1967

Namba Yamano
[Windlass for Yamano Coal Pit]
38.1 x 54.3 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

In the autumn of 1898, 6 or 7 boilers (kama or kikan) for Mitsui Yamano Coal Pit were conveyed by using a windlass (namba) on the sandy bank of the Kama River, whose water level was low at that time, for about 6 kilometers from Yoshio to Yamano.
In those days, a branch of the railway in the Chikuho region was in service between Iizuka, and Okuma via Usui. However, no train whistles or blasts were heard in the Inatsuki area [including Yamano]. In 1902, a new railway branch only for coal cars was in service between Kamimio and Yamano. Around 1920, passenger car service started on the Urushio Line as well as on the Kamimio Yamano Line.
Only intellects called the boiler a "boira" or "kikan" at that time, and everybody called it a "kama (kettle or iron pot)." Some playful people called it a "sayu wakashi (water-heater)," "yuge tsukuri (steam maker)," or "hoke seizoki (steam generator)." All of the boilers carried on the riverbank were low-pressure types with a single furnace, called ippon juros in dialect.

Shouts
"Sorya, make! Shikkari make! Shanto make! Maite toru no ga itoya no musume da!
Hora, maita!"

"Let's wind it up! Wind it up hard! Wind it up tight like the girl at the thread shop, who winds up threads. Hurrah, wind it up!"


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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