Coal Pits in the Old Days: Timbering Intermediate Support Units
1958 - 1963

Mukashi no Yama: Ma-waku Ire
[Coal Pits in the Old Days: Timbering Intermediate Support Units]
21.1 x 30.2 cm Ink Painting

The average distance between support units was about 1.5 meters. Therefore, the lagging called sashi-narigis inserted between the units and roofs or walls would break. The beams would sag down to such an extent that they were almost breaking when they received increased rock pressure. So, additional support units were inserted between old ones. The additional support unit was called a ma-waku and slightly thinner mine timber was used. It was what we called a subsidiary support unit and repairers were contracted to insert one at about 50 sen (0.5 yen). Since the pillar on the inclined side of the roadway had to be tilted about 17 degrees against the vertical line, the foot of the pillar had to be driven into a hole dug in the bottom of the wall on the same side. The hole to hitch the foot of a pillar was called a waku-gama, and if one of the repairers carelessly said that he/she would "dig a hole," he/she would be shouted at by the other.

(Yama Kotoba: Dialectal Words in the Pit)
A coal pillar was called a ryuzu, and cutting its sides was called mimikagi. This word was used in the same way when miners cut both coal and rock at coalfaces or roadways in order to widen them.
Removing coal pillars was called ryuzu-biki.
A virgin coal bed to be newly mined was called an aratoko, and words other than this were almost not in current use in coal pits (yama).


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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