Rice Riots at Coal Pits (Yama) #1: Householders Appealing for the Reduction in the Price of Rice by Waving a Brimmed Rice-cooking Pot and Rice Paddles)
July 1965

Yama no Kome-sodo #1: Hagama-gassen, Shakushi-kaze
[Rice Riots at Coal Pits (Yama) #1: Householders Appealing for the Reduction in the Price of Rice by Waving a Brimmed Rice-cooking Pot and Rice Paddles)]
38.0 x 53.8 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

In 1916, at mine stores in pits run by Mr. A, about 1 sho (1.4 kg) of rice cost 15 sen (0.15 yen). In 1917, the price of the same quantity of rice rose to 20 sen (0.2 yen). From the beginning of July in 1918, the price of rice continued rising day by day, and it became 56 sen (0.56 yen) per sho at the market by the end of the month. Even experienced coal miners could earn money enough to buy only 2 sho (2.8 kg) of rice a day.
The initial rice riot seeking better wages and reduction in the price of rice was started by fishermen's wives in Nishimizuhashi Town in Toyama Prefecture on August 3, 1918. Similar riots soon spread throughout Japan. The first rice riot in coal pits was started by the miners at Mineji Coal Pit in Kurauchi in Tagawa County. (The price of 1.4 kg of rice rose from 15 sen to more than 50 sen in two years, but miners' wages during the same period did not change. Not only wives of coal miners but also all workers complained about the high price of rice.) (It is said that the price of coal also rose considerably at that time, and that only mine owners were benefited from more profits.)
(Householders in this picture are not dancing, but desperately crying out from starvation.)

Words Written in the Picture in White Paint
Kome : rice
Hagama : brimmed rice-cooking pot [Translator's Notes: the shown rice-cooking pot is held upsidedown]
Kassen : war or battle
Shakushi Kaze : the wind caused by waving rice paddles


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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