Rabbit Miners and the Number One Dresser In The Pit: The Mining Art of Sakubei Yamamoto

Exhibition viewings available by appointment only – contact us on 01639 843163 / boxoffice@thewelfare.co.uk to arrange a suitable date and time.

At the age of seven years old, Sakubei Yamamoto (1892-1984) moved with his family to Kamimio Colliery of the Chikuho region in Kyushu. He was apprenticed to a colliery blacksmith at the age of twelve, and later worked as a mine blacksmith and coalminer until the age of 63 in 1955. He then became a colliery security guard when he started painting his memories of the mining industry.

He had little formal education but, from the age of 21 in 1913, began keeping notebooks and diaries in which he recorded events. These influenced his later painting.

“The yama [the miners’ term for the coal mines] is fading away, leaving 524 mountains of rubble in the Chikuho region; and as for me, I’m no spring chicken. I’ve decided to leave behind something of the work and feelings from the yama for my grandkids. It’d be faster just to write something down, but after a couple of years, who knows, maybe the notes would just get thrown out during spring cleaning. With pictures, though, so much can be taken in just with a single glance – I’ve decided to paint.”

Sakubei Yamamoto’s coal mining paintings, drawings and diaries were registered in UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme. This exhibition focuses on a small selection of the 1000 drawings and paintings by the artist. They are very Japanese in style but any Welsh mineworker can recognise the typenof work and the characters depicted.

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山本作兵衛（明治25年生-昭和59年没）は、7 歳の頃に家族と九州の筑豊にある上三緒炭坑 に移住。12歳で炭坑のツルハシ鍛冶に弟子入 りし、63歳まで坑内夫や鍛冶工員として坑夫 生活を続けた。その後炭坑の宿直警備員をし ていた頃から、記憶を辿って炭坑の様子を描 くようになった。 学校へはあまり通えなかったが、20代初めか ら日記や手帳に炭坑の記録を残し、それが後 の制作活動に役立ったという。 「ヤマは消え行く、筑豊524のボタ山は残る。 やがて私も余白は少ない。孫たちにヤマの生 活やヤマの作業や人情を書き残しておこうと 思い立った。文章で書くのが手っ取り早い が、年数がたつと読みもせず掃除のときに捨 てられるかもしれず、絵であればちょっと見 ただけでわかるので、絵に描いておくことに した。」 山本作兵衛の炭坑記録画や日記類は、2011年 （平成23年）に日本初のユネスコ世界記録遺 産に登録された。 本展は、１千点を超える山本作兵衛の作品の ごく一部を紹介するものである。もちろん日 本の炭坑記録画であるが、ウェールズの炭坑 夫には馴染みのある作業や役割であろう。 カッコ内の文章は、記録画の余白に書き込ま れた作兵衛自身による解説文からの抜粋であ る