Pit Workers in the Old Days (Job Hunting)
March 1965

Mukashi no Yamabito (Game-tsuki)
[Pit Workers in the Old Days (Job Hunting)]
38.2 x 54.2 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

Text on the Right
Job hunting was called game-tsuki (tortoise spearing), and rushing around while trying to raise funds was called tsubo-tsuki (pot spearing). Greetings, such as "Oi, yoka game ga tsuketa kai (Have you found a good pit to move to?)," were sometimes heard in the pit. In the past, if a miner was allotted a very good single coalface, he worked on it happily. However, he immediately wanted to move to another pit if he was allotted a coalface in bad condition. Such miners scrambled to go to other pits for jobs. They mainly depended on their acquaintances and were liable to want to move to newly-opened pits. It was because such pits wanted to employ miners at great expense.


Text at the Top Left
In the Meiji era (1868-1912), a miner seeking a job wore a striped kimono with its skirt folded and put under the waistband. He wore straw sandals without wearing socks on his feet. In winter, he wore long flannel underpants (momohiki/pacchi) or underpants with strings. He also wore a dark blue cotton coat called an atsushi or a tight-sleeved kimono. A roll of striped cotton cloth cost no more than 1 yen and a roll of splashed cotton cloth cost more than 2 yen. His undershirt was made of flannel and sewn by hand. It had cuff buttons but did not have a turndown collar.

Lettering on the Bag Shouldered by the Tortoise (game in dialect/normally kame)
kome: rice

Lettering on the Pot (tsubo/kame)
kane/kin: money/gold


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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