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Convict Labor and Its Commemoration: the Mitsui Miike Coal Mine Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Miyamoto Takashi
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Abstract

The Miike Coal Mine, extending across Omuta and Arao in Kyushu, was an engine for economic growth in Japan until the nation's defeat in World War II. In 1873, the Meiji government introduced convict labor in the mine. This arrangement continued after the government handed the mine over to a private company, the Mitsui Coal Mine. It was not until 1931, in the wake of the International Labor Organization's 1930 Forced Labor Convention, that convict labor was terminated. The history of convicts in the mine was not widely known for decades until a local group started restoring memories of it in the 1960s. This paper examines the social and discursive environment in which the recovered history of convict labor evolved.

Keywords

Mitsui Miike Coal Mineconvict laborcommemorationWorld Heritage
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , January 2017 , e4
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2017

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References

Notes

1 The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement 312542 and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant Number 15H06192.

2 Rutokei wo Okoshi Hokkaidō ni Hakken no Gi Jōchin. Naimushō Ukagai 5, Kōbunroku 1877, No. 24 (February). National Archives of Japan.

3 Clare Anderson, Carrie M. Crockett, Christian G. De Vito, Takashi Miyamoto, Kellie Moss, Katherine Roscoe, Minako Sakata. 2015. Locating Penal Transportation: Punishment, Space, and Place c. 1750 to 1900. In Karen M. Morin and Dominique Moran eds. Historical Geographies of Prisons: Unlocking the Usable Carceral Past. New York: Routledge, pp. 152-153.

4 Mizuma prefecture was established in 1871 covering the Chikugo region. The prefecture was dissolved in 1876. Part of it was transferred to Nagasaki prefecture and the remaining was transferred to Fukuoka prefecture.

5 Tokyo Asahi Shinbun (newspaper) dated March 3, 1897 (quoted in Dainippon Kangoku Kkyōkai Zasshi No. 106 (10-3), March 20, 1897, p. 60.

6 Miike Kōzan Gojū-nen Shi Kō (vol. 16, no. 10). 1944. Mitsui Bunko: Gojū-nen Shi Kō 18, p. 13.

7 Ko Dan Danshaku Denki Hensan Iinkai. 1938. Danshaku Dan Takuma Den 1. Tokyo: Ko Dan Danshaku Denki Hensan Iinkai, p. 239.

8 Shūto Saitan Shieki ni Kansuru Keiyaku Teiketsu. Miike Keimusho Enkaku, sono 2. Mitsui Bunko: Kōzan 831-57, pp. 303-306.

9 Ono Yoshihide. Kangoku (Keimusho) Un'ei 120 nen no Rekishi. Tokyo: Kyōsei Kyōkai, p. 129. Subsequently, in 1903, all the shūjikans and prefectural prisons were designated as kangoku.

10 The latter attempt was not successful. Shūto tai Ryōmin Kōfu Shieki ni Hōshin Tenkan. Miike Keimusho Enkaku, sono 2. Mitsui Bunko: Kōzan 831-57, pp. 234-240. See also Tanaka Naoki. 1976. Miike Tankō ni Okeru Shūjin Rōdō no Yakuwari. Enerugī-shi Kenkyū Nōto. 6: 152-173.

11 Kosaki Fumihito (recorded). n.d. Oral Testimonies on Convict Labor 1 & 2. Rare Collections, Ōmuta City Library.

12 Ibid. See also, Kosaki Fumihito. 1990. Shūjin Rōdō to Ningen (manuscript of Lecture at Tenchi Seikyō).

13 Mitsui Coal Mine dismissed Kikuchi's statement arguing that his opinion was based on misinformation. Subsequently, Kikuchi resigned from his position as prison medical officer.

14 Ōmuta-shi Shi Henshū Iinkai. 1966. Ōmuta-shi Shi 2. Ōmuta: Ōmuta-shi, pp. 598 -609.

15 Abe Tadakichi, Secretary of Miike Coal Mine, to Dan Takuma, Director of Miike Coal Mine. May 5, 1902. Miike Keimusho Enkaku. Mitsui Bunko: Kōzan 831-57.

16 Tanaka Tomoko. 2009. Changes in Labor Policy in the Pre-War Miike Coal Mine and the Resistance of the Workers. The Bukkyo University Graduate School Review. 37: 37-53. [in Japanese

17 On the termination of lease of convicts in Miike, see Miyanohara Kō to Shūto Shieki Keiyaku Kaijo no Keika. Miike Keimusho Enkaku, sono 3. Mitsui Bunko: Kōzan 831-57, pp. 563-597.

18 By the later 19th century, the Miike coal mine extended across Omuta, Fukuoka prefecture, and Arao, Kumamoto prefecture.

19 He recorded his experience at Miike in his book. Sakisaka Itsuro. 1961. Miike Nikki: Tatakai no Riron to Sōkatsu. Tokyo: Shiseidō.

20 On Miike Mine Strike in the 1950s, see Hirai Yoichi. 2000. Miike Sougi: Sengo Rōdō Undō no Bunsuirei. Tokyo: Mineruva Shobō; Tanaka Tomoko. 2010. Sengo no Miike Tankō ni Okeru Rōmu Kanri to Rōdōsha no Teikō ni kansuru Kenkyū: Miike Tankō ga Naihō shita Mondai ni Chakumoku shite. The Bukkyo University Graduate School Review. 38: 55-71.

21 On the explosion, see Mori Kota and Harada Masazumi. 1999. Miike Tankō: 1963 nen Tanjin Bakuhatsu wo Ou. Tokyo: Nihon Hōsō-shuppan Kyōkai; Tanaka Tomoko. 2012. Miike Tankō Tanjin Bakuhatsu Jiko ni Miru Saigai Fukushi no Shiza. Bukkyō Daigaku.

22 William Underwood. 2015. History in a Box: UNESCO and the Framing of Japan's Meiji Era. The Asia-Pacific Journal. Vol. 13, Issue 26, No. 1 (June 29, 2015).

23 Commemoration of prisoners who lost their lives in the mine was performed in the Meiji period as well. However, the commemoration discontinued following the closure of the Miike prison. Sugai Masami. 1895. Miike Shūjikan Zaikan-nin Shibōsha Tsuichō Kai. In Shūjin Bochi ni Kansuru Shiryō: Satō Yukio shi Shokan sonota: Ōmuta Ichinoura Bochi Chōsa Shiryō. Kosaki Fumihito Collection. Ōmuta City Library.

24 Urabon'e is a Buddhist / Taoist festival held on the 15th night of the seventh month of Chinese lunar calendar.

25 Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozon Kai. 2005. Chinkon: Rekishi Tanbō - Fu no Isan. Ōmuta: Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozon Kai, pp. 95-96.

26 Ohara Toshihide. 2015. Shiryō Shōkai: Ōmuta Shiritsu Toshokan ga Shōzō suru Miike Tankō Kankei Shiryō to sono Mokuroku ni tsuite. Enerugī-shi Kenkyū. 30: 99-100.

27 Shūjin Bochi ni Kansuru Shiryō, op. cit.

28 Urakawa was aware of the criticisms made by Takeda and Shigematsu in 1972. Takeda Takehisa. 1972. Miike Kangoku wo Saguru 5. Keisei. 83-12: 26-27; Shigematsu Kazuyoshi. 1972 (2001). Miike Shūjikan Shō-shi. Privately Printed (reprinted by Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozon Kai), p. 27. Copies of the articles are included in Urakawa Collection, the Ōmuta City Library.

29 Asahi Gurafu. 1871. Kikoku Shūshū: Shūtobaka. Asahi Gurafu. 8 October: 59-66.

30 For example, Rōjin-kai ga Seisō Houshi: Ichinoura-machi no Shūjin Bochi wo, 6 August 1981, Ariake.

31 Urakawa, op. cit., p. 97.

32 Motoyoshi Keiji. 1971. Chōji: Hōyō, Ryūgoze Bochi, Gassō no Hi, Isetsu. Quoted in Urakawa, op. cit., p. 45.

33 Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozon Kai (ed.), 1995, op. cit., p. 38.

34 Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozon Kai. 1997. Miike Shūjikan: Shūjin Ikotsu Shōgeki no Hakkutsu, Ikitemo Jigoku Shindemo Jigoku, Shibotsu Shūjin no Matsuro wa Amari nimo Mijime. Ōmuta: Privately Printed Pamphlet.

35 Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozon Kai, op. cit., p. 2.

36 Urakawa recorded the excavation process with photographs. The photographs are kept in Urakawa Collection, Ōmuta City Library. Permission letters from the Ōmuta City to cremate the bones are included in the collection as well.

37 Ishikawa, 1997, op. cit., p. 41

38 Ōmuta-shi Shi Henshū Iinkai. 1965-69. Ōmuta-shi Shi (jō, chū, ge, ho). Ōmuta: Ōmuta City.

39 Ohara Toshihide. 2016. Shiryō Shokai: Miike Tankō no Shūjin Rōdō. Liberation. 163: 81-101. Miike Keimusho Enkaku was kept by the Mitsui Coal Mine, and was later deposited to the Mitsui Bunko in Tokyo. After the dissolution of the Miike Coal Mine, the deposited records including Miike Keimusho Enkaku were endowed to the Mitsui Bunko.

40 Ōmuta-shi Shi Henshū Iinkai. 1966. Ōmuta-shi Shi (chu). Ōmuta: Ōmuta City, pp. 599-608. Quoted in Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozonai (ed.), 1995, Miike Tanzan no Shūto Shieki wo Haishi seyo: Kangoku-i Kikuchi Tsuneki no Otakebi, Ōmuta: Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozon Kai, p. 15. Also quoted in Ishikawa Tamotsu, 1997, Miike Shūjikan Monogatari: Miike Tankō Hatten no Kiso, Ōmuta: Ishikawa Tamotsu (privately printed), p. 39. The letter is frequently referred to in writings of those who are associated with the Ōmuta Association for Prisoners' Cemetery Preservation.

41 Na mo Nai Hikage no Shiorebana, Kyōsei Rōdō ni Hateta Shūjin, Miike Tankō. December 25, 1981. Mainichi Shimbun (Chikugo edition).

42 Rōso Kikanshi Tsukutte 33-nen Miike Rōso no Kosaki-san Yūtai. December 25, 1981. Yomiuri Shimbun (Chikugo edition).

43 Some of them have been discovered thanks to the efforts of Kosaka, Urakawa, Ohara and others who were associated with the Ōmuta Society for Prisoners' Cemetery Preservation. See Ohara, 2016, op. cit.

44 Hand copied draft 50 years history is now kept in Mitsui Bunko and Ōmuta City Library. Mitsui Kōzan Gojū-nen Shi Kō. 1944. Mitsui Bunko. The copy kept in Ōmuta City Library is likely to be a hand copy of the one kept in Mitsui Bunko. Ohara, 2016, op. cit., p. 97.

45 For example, He published serial articles on convict labor on Ariake Shimpo in 1976. Kosaki Fumihito. 1976. Miike Tankō Shūjin Rōdō no Hanashi 1-14. Ariake Shimpo. He wrote similar serial articles from time to time mainly on Ariake Shimpo. For example, Kosaki Fumihito. 1982. Shūjin Rōdō Iseki wo Tazuneru 1-11. Ariake Shimpo; 1987. Kangoku-i Kikuchi Ishi no Koto 1-5. Ariake Shimpo.

46 One of his early articles on convict labour was co-authored with Motoyoshi. Motoyoshi Keiji and Kosaki Fumihito. 1978. Miike Tankō no Shūjin Rōdō: Chitei ni Umoreta Hitotsu no Rekishi. Fukuoka Daigaku Kenkyūjo Hō. 39: 79-156. Later, he kept writing for journals related to convict labor as well as the CO poisoning issue. Kosaki Fumihito. 1982. Shūjin Rōdō no Rekishi: Miike Tankō wo Chūshin ni 1-5. Rōdō Keizai Junpō. 36-1226: 30-33, 36-1227: 32-34, 1229: 26-28, 1230: 22-27, 1232: 23-24; Kosaki Fumihito. 1983. Shūjin Rōdō no Jittai to Kon'nichi teki Igi 1-4. Gekkan Sōhyo. 305: 58-64, 306: 77-83, 307: 86-94, 308: 88-94.

47 Manuscript of the lecture and other related memoranda and papers are kept in the Kosaki Colletion of the Ōmuta City Library. Kosaki Fumihito. 1988-07-16. Miike Tankō Shūjin Rōdō wo Oitsuzukete. 13th Study Camp for Students of National Universities in Kyushu (Ōita).

48 Ibid., p. 3.

49 Takahashi Chōzō. 1924. Inochi no Sentaku. Tokyo: Kirisutokyō Shorui Gaisha.

50 Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozon Kai, 1995, op. cit.

51 Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozon Kai, 2005, op. cit., p. 107.

52 The Kosaki collection was donated to the library in 1997 and the Urakawa collection was donated around 2005. Ohara, 2015, op. cit., p. 100; Ōmuta Shūjin Bochi Hozon Kai, 2005, op. cit., p. 109.

53 Manuscripts are accessible at the Mitsui Bunko and the Omuta City Library. See note 39.