The works of Sakubei Yamamoto
Transport (inside the mine)

Shouldering a Coal Basket called a Tebo
April 1967

Tebo Karai
[Shouldering a Coal Basket called a Tebo]
37.8 x 53.8 cm Painting in Watercolors and Ink

Text at the Top Right
During the Taisho era (1912-1926), this kind of shouldering basket called a tebo was only used for carrying coal from thick descending coalfaces. This hard work was mainly done by male helpers or carriers (atoyama) and also done by a few manly women helpers. A helper carried this basket loaded with three bamboo winnows (ebi) or about 30.5 kilograms of coal at one time. He/she had to carry coal with this basket about 15 times to fill a mine car. Each of the hewers (sakiyama) did not only cut their coalface, but also scooped up the coal they mined into their carrier's basket.

Text at the Bottom Left
Coal from coalfaces with a lot of water was carried with tin-made tebos. Coal in tebos was directly dumped into mine cars.


Translation Assisted by Mr. Nathan Johndro

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