Difficult Drilling in the Roof
1958 - 1963

Muzukashii Tenjo no Senko
[Difficult Drilling in the Roof]
21.3 x 30.4 cm Ink Painting

This work is too difficult for a "heta" or an inexperienced worker. There is an old tanka poem as follows:

"Meijin ni nare nare nasu to omoedomo tonikaku heta wa hanazarikeri"

"Though I have said to myself and been determined to become an expert, I still remain inexperienced just as the eggplant can't exist without its stem."

[Translator's Notes: "Nasu" in the above tanka poem has two meanings of "eggplant" and "to be determined to do something," and "heta" also has two meanings of "the stem" of the eggplant and "an inexperienced person."]

The shown work of drilling a blast hole in the roof was called ageana-kuri and it was the most difficult work for even a kanayama kofu (miner from Besshi Copper Mine, whose skill was thought to be best among the miners in the pit). This work required skill to some extent and I suppose the miners doing this work had to concentrate on it without singing songs.

Mining Tools at the Bottom Left
ryoto: double-headed pickax; pickax with a head to be used as both a pick and a hammer
sankiro kurai: It weighed about 3 kilograms.
kanaya: metal arrow head
ichikiro nai kurai: A metal arrow head weighed less than 1 kilogram.

Setto mo ichikiro kurai: The hammer for chisels also weighed about 1 kilogram.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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