Boardinghouse and Boarders in the Meiji Era (1868-1912)
1964 - 1967

Meiji no O-naya to Hamba
[Boardinghouse and Boarders in the Meiji Era (1868-1912)]
38.1 x 54.2 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

Most boardinghouses called o-nayas for pit workers were not row houses called hamonika (harmonica) nagayas, but were rather large separated houses, each of them with a floor space of 20 to 30 tsubo (66 to 99 square meters) in total and an earthen courtyard. In the Japanese style drawing room of the boardinghouse lived the boss (toryo) and his family. In the next room lived the personnel supervisor (hitoguri), the treasurer (kamba), and some free-loaders (shokkaku). In the empty, unfurnished room lived restless unmarried workers called hamba. Most of them were tramps who had worked at one pit after another. Most of them had no kimono and some of them always wore only a loincloth. Such appearances did not look so strange in summer. However, in winter, such a worker, after returning to his o-naya and taking a bath, would sit cross-legged beside the fireplace, wearing a Japanese quilt on his shoulders, drink sake, eat rice, and sleep as he was.
From around 1905, rental libraries began to appear in the coal pits. They mainly rented storytelling books such as Taikoki (a story of one of the Japanese conquerors in the 16th century, Hideyoshi Toyotomi), Ako Gishi Den (a story of the forty-seven loyal samurai of the Ako Clan), Goketsu Den (stories of strong samurais), Satomi Hakken Den (a fantasy novel of eight loyal dogs of the House of Satomi), and so on. They rented a book at 4 sen a week at first and at 5 sen, starting around 1907.
Miners were not allowed to gamble publicly. They said some people gambled in secret or in the mountains.
Adults said that the payment for using a boardinghouse (hamba-ryo) was more than 4 yen or about 5 yen a month.
We could not read books on winter nights because the lamp light was so dim.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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