Miner Group Boss
1964 - 1967

Nayadoryo
[Miner Group Boss]
38.0 x 54.1 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

(There were some lazy bosses who only took cuts [kinsaki] of miners' earnings without sending them to the pit.)
In the Meiji era (1868-1912), it was only bosses (nayadoryo) of unmarried male miner groups called o-nayas at large-scale coal pits (o-yama) that could employ personnel supervisors (hitoguri) and treasurers (kamba). Most of miners' bosses at small and middle-scale coal pits did everything by themselves. Their young followers called hamba living in their boardinghouses (o-naya) or miners under their control living in row houses (ko-naya) sometimes helped them in delivering mining tickets to other miners during the previous evenings before the miners were to enter the pit.
These bosses (also called nayagashira) visited the row houses of miners of whom they took charge in order to send them to the pit (kurikomi) after 2:00 a.m. In every pit, it was decided that miners had to start working underground by 3:00 a.m. and the whistle was blown three times to tell them the time. However, they could not enter the pit on time if they got up after hearing the whistle.
No miner at that time had any clocks or watches. In the latter half of the Meiji era, a few pendulum clocks were seen in the pit. It was not easy for miners to buy clocks because a clock of the lowest grade cost as much as 3 yen 50 sen (3.50 yen).
Most miners cooked rice the previous evening and entered the pit the next morning after quickly eating the rice that had been soaked in green tea. A piece of pickled Japanese radish cost 1 sen 5 rin (0.015 yen) to 2 sen (0.02 yen). 1.4 kg of the third-class (off grade) rice cost 16 sen (0.16 yen).
[Translator's Notes: The pickled radish was a typical supplemental food for miners.]

Lyrics of "Gotton Bushi" Song
Okite meshi kue konkon soete.
Konai sagaru mo taberu (kurau) tame.
Gotton!

Get up and eat rice with cuts of pickled Japanese radish.
We work underground so that we may eat.
Gotton (Clang)! (Interjected chant)

Lettering on the Plate on the Pillar of the Doorway
Yamao [family name] Noboru [given name]
Doh [the same family name] Saka [given name]


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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