Aichi Triennale

Yamamoto Sakubei was born in Chikuho region in Kyusyu. He moved from one coal mine to another after he started working at a coal mine when he was 6 years of age. After he retired in 1955 because of the closing of his last workplace Ito Coal Mine, he began to take up the paintbrush to pass on to future generations what it was like in coal mines, while working as night watchman. In excess of one thousand drawings and paintings produced from this time until his death at 92 are published in various forms, including in works such as Meiji/Taisho Tanko Emaki (Coal mines of the Meiji and Taisho Eras, 1963), Gabunshu—Tanko ni Ikiru (Collection of annotated paintings—Living in the coal mines, 1967), and Yamamoto Sakubei Gabun—Chikuho Tanko Emaki (Annotated paintings by Yamamoto Sakubei—Pictorial records from the Chikuho mines, 1973). In 2011, 697 of his vivid annotated paintings portrayed from perspective of coal miners in a way that makes viewers feel present in the scene and his diaries are included as Japan’s first inscription in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register as a historical legacy to be shared with humanity.

Time line

1906

Begins working in Sannai Coal Mine run by Aso Takichi in Fukuoka Prefecture.

1955

Retires with closure of Ito Coal Mine at Nagao Mining Station in Fukuoka Prefecture.

1957

Becomes night watchman at Nagao Mining Station office, drawing and painting beside his work.

1963

Meiji/Taisho Tanko Emaki (Coal mines of the Meiji and Taisho Eras) published.

2011

Collection of 697 annotated paintings and diaries included as Japan’s first inscription in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.