Rice Riots at Coal Pits (Yama) #15: The Aftermath (Boom in the Coal Mining Industry)
August 1965

Yama no Kome-sodo #15: Yobun (Sekitan Bumu)
[Rice Riots at Coal Pits (Yama) #15: The Aftermath (Boom in the Coal Mining Industry)]
38.0 x 53.9 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

It was like the fine weather after a storm. After the rice riots, there came a boom in the coal mining industry. It was the time for coal mine owners (koshi) and miners (kofu) to enjoy the height of their prosperity together. Even miners' wives spent a lot of money on daily shopping. People became addicted to buying sprees.

They thought that life was short, and it was better to live a short and exciting life than to live a long, frugal life. The people at coal pits hardly saved money. As they could make a lot of easy money, most of them made it a rule to spend all the money they earned on that day. Such life was normal at coal pits. However, the situation began to change from the latter half of 1919.
At that time, there were no company tokens, but people used smaller tokens issued by the government. (There were tokens of 1 sen [0.1 yen], 2 sen [0.2 yen] and 50 sen [0.5 yen]. They were used until the beginning of the Showa era [1926-1989] and again during the war.)

1. Zimmer Screen of a Coal Conveyor: Its feet were made of doubled, cut bamboo.
2. Rotary Car Dumper or Tippler: It rotated the track and the car together to dump coal.
3. Screw Conveyor: It was made of wrought-iron or pig iron.

Other Words in the Picture
Sekitan ka kinkai ka: Coal or gold? [Words under the tippler]
Ginsen-bukuro: coin bag [Word written on the bag held by the man]
Ginka wa fukuro ni ireru to benri ga yoi: It is convenient to carry silver in a bag. [Words at the bottom left]
Gojussen: 50 sen (0.5 yen) [Words written on the white bills falling together with coal]


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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