"Sakubei Yamamoto (1892-1984) lived with his family at the coal mines of the Chikuho region in Kyushu from the age of seven, was apprenticed to a pickaxe smith at a mine in 1904 when he was 12, and worked variously as a mine blacksmith and miner until the age of 63 in 1955, when he became a
security guard at a mine and started painting his memories, drawing information from his diaries. Sakubei Yamamoto had little formal education, but by the age of 21 in 1913 began keeping notebooks and diaries in which he recorded events...
It is highly unusual in a Japanese context as a private record created by a working man, whereas the dominant records of the period are official government and business papers. The Sakubei paintings have a rawness and immediacy that is totally missing from the official record, and the collection is a totally authentic personal view of a period of great historical significance to the world."
(-From http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/nomination_forms/japan_sakubei_yamamoto_collection.pdf)
Yamamoto's work is a unique first hand depiction of life as a coal miner in an isolated mountain community in Japan. It documents ideologies, traditions, technologies and working conditions as they evolved throughout his lifetime. The images have the quality of walking through Yamamoto's life and seeing captured moments through his eyes. Experiencing his artwork and journal entries feels like departing into a magic portal into a forgotten past.
Yamamoto describes the dangers of the mining life.
Glimpses into the social lives of the miners are an uncensored, first hand account of what was.
More info on Sakubei Yamamoto:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/flagship-project-activities/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-8/sakubei-yamamoto-collection/
Info on the United Nations Memory of the World Database:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/flagship-project-activities/memory-of-the-world/homepage/
It is highly unusual in a Japanese context as a private record created by a working man, whereas the dominant records of the period are official government and business papers. The Sakubei paintings have a rawness and immediacy that is totally missing from the official record, and the collection is a totally authentic personal view of a period of great historical significance to the world."
(-From http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/mow/nomination_forms/japan_sakubei_yamamoto_collection.pdf)
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| Young Sakubei walking through a coal mine for the first time with his mother. |
Yamamoto describes the dangers of the mining life.
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| He explains how in the early days, miners would work as a male and female team with men mining coal, and women collecting it. |
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| Japan's transition into an industrialized country in a short amount of time is clearly documented from a lay person's perspective. |
Glimpses into the social lives of the miners are an uncensored, first hand account of what was.
More info on Sakubei Yamamoto:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/flagship-project-activities/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-8/sakubei-yamamoto-collection/
Info on the United Nations Memory of the World Database:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/flagship-project-activities/memory-of-the-world/homepage/
