People at Coal Pits in the Old Days #5 (Boring a Blast Hole in the Roof Rock with a Hammer Called a Setto and a Chisel)
1958 - 1963

Mukashi Yama no Hitobito #5 (Setto Tsukai)
[People at Coal Pits in the Old Days #5 (Boring a Blast Hole in the Roof Rock with a Hammer Called a Setto and a Chisel)]
20.5 x 29.2 cm Ink Painting

This work is too difficult for a "heta" or an inexperienced worker as the one written in an old tanka poem as follows:

"Meijin ni nare nare nasu to omoedomo tonikaku "heta" wa hanare zari keri."

"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 "inexperienced person."]

Lots of practice, good skill and elbow power were needed to drill holes in the roof rock (ageana-kuri). Among jobs done with the hammer for chisels (setto), it was the most difficult. The chisel would not go any deeper into the roof rock without being hit with the hammer with all of a miner's might, but one miss could damage all five of his fingers holding the chisel. I heard that these hammers for chisels were made entirely of steel, which produced a ringing reverberation when they met chisel heads, and that the rhythm of the reverberations invigorated the workers, letting them speed up their rate of work.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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