Recruited Migrant Miners (Who Were Married)
June 1965

Boshu ni yoru Dekasegi Kofu (Dokushin de Nai)
[Recruited Migrant Miners (Who Were Married)]
38.0 x 53.9 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

Text on the Right
"Kome no meshi nya sah wa iriyansen (We don't need other foods when we eat rice)." It was said that this saying was uttered by one of the migrant miners from Hiroshima Prefecture around 1899 (or probably before then) at K Coal Pit, which was opened in 1895. It became a motto in the pit and even children often echoed this saying. It was said that each miner from Hiroshima ate a pickled Japanese radish sold at 1 sen (0.01 yen) a day as the only supplemental food to one day's worth of rice. It was reportedly because they thought that the deliciousness of cooked polished rice, which looked to them as clear as crystal and as shiny as though it illuminated their noses, was spoiled if they ate other foods with it.
They made straw sandals themselves before they went to bed, though a pair of ready-made ones was sold at 1 sen 5 rin (0.015 yen). It was said that some of them returned in glory with considerable earnings they saved by cutting expenses to the utmost as well as changing even a 5-rin (0.005 yen) coin into 1-rin coins to spend them one by one.
They seem to have had strong bodies by nature. No one in the pit counted food value, vitamins, or calories at all. They considered that they could work if they ate their fill in any case. Most of these dozens of migrant miners stayed in the pit and continued working there for a long time. It was also not rare for their descendants to earn their living by mining coal.

Text at the Bottom Left
Though they were migrant workers, they lived with their families. Therefore, they could not return home if they suffered continuous misfortune.
A pair of ready-made straw sandals sold at 1 sen 5 rin at the mine store (urikamba) did not endure even one day. However, hand-made ones could be used for about two days because they were tightly plaited and rags were woven into them. They cost 2 sen if miners asked someone to make them.
At that time, a bowl of a large helping of noodles cost 2 sen. A pickled Japanese radish (takuan kon kon) cost 1 sen. A piece of bean curd (tofu) twice as large as that of those today cost 2 sen. 1 sho (1.8 liters) of polished rice cost 10 sen. A piece of fish paste covered with straw (subo-chikuwa) cost 2 sen. 1 sho of soy sauce cost 7 or 8 sen. A bottle of lemon-lime (ramune: lemonade) cost 2 sen.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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