The works of Sakubei Yamamoto
Yama Children

Children in Coal Pits (Yama) in the Mid-Meiji Era (1868-1912) #21: Upper Branch of the Onga River (Fishing)
1964 - 1967

Meiji Chuki Yama no Kodomo #21: Ongagawa Joryu (Sakanatsuri)
[Children in Coal Pits (Yama) in the Mid-Meiji Era (1868-1912) #21: Upper Branch of the Onga River (Fishing)]
25.5 x 35.6 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

Text on the Right
Improvement work on the Kama River, which is an upper branch of the Onga River, began in 1908 and its water turned black, killing all living things in the river including fish. The river was rich in fish until then. Among all fish, there were especially many kamazuko also called sunaimori (dialectal names of Japanese sand lance or ikanago) because the river bottom was covered with sand. It was difficult for me to remove hooks from catfish, eels, rompo (normally donko: bullhead), gyugyu (also called gigyu or gibachi: cut-tailed bullhead), etc., which we landed, because they swallowed the hooks deeply. There were fish, such as hae (haya: minnow), funa (crucian carp), ayu (sweetfish), and shrimp close to the surface. Gyugyu with three stingers bothered me very much.

Text at the Top Middle
The elder brother holds in his hands a shallow bamboo basket called a dojo-joke for scooping up small fish like loaches. The younger brother holds a bucket called a tekogai in his hand.

Text at the Top Left
In midsummer when the ground was so hot that our feet were almost scalded, we hurried to the usual ditch as soon as we returned from our school and tossed aside our books and lunch boxes. There was plenty of fish swimming even in the shallowest waters.
My mother could always expect us to bring in lots of fish for supper, ready for a cooking pot. We landed little crucian carp, little catfish, komotsutsuki, loaches, shibinta (baratanago: rosy bittering), and so on.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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