Helpers (Brother and Sister)
October 1967

Atoyama (Shitei)
[Helpers (Brother and Sister)]
38.2 x 54.3 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

Text at the Upper Left
At small-scale pits (koyama) in the mid Meiji era (1868-1912), even 7 or 8 year-old children could work underground with lamps (kantera) in their hands.
Their father is a hewer (sakiyama) and they are working as helpers (atoyama). Using their four eyes, arms, and feet, they could do the same work as an adult.
A pair of miners called a hitosaki was composed of a husband and wife, a parent and his/her child, a pair of siblings, or a pair of members from different families. Such a pair mined about 2.5 tons of coal in five or six mine cars a day in the case of mining a thin coal seam (teisotan).

Text at the Right End
Coal mined at a coalface is carried out with a sura (a basket or a box with a sled for carrying coal) and was unloaded from it at a place in a level (kanekata) to be temporarily stored (kabudashi/ryutan) before being loaded into mine cars.

Chinese Characters at the Bottom Right
(Yama Saku): Abbreviation of Yamamoto Sakubei


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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