Michiya Mihashi -- Oira Tankoubu（俺ら炭坑夫）

 

One of the first things that I learned about Japan as a high school student was that the nation was very resource-poor. A lot of the raw materials needed for manufacturing had to be imported. But I gradually came to realize that the Japanese still had a mining industry for various minerals within their own nation for centuries which included coal. I didn't have to look up anything (although I did read some of the "Mining in Japan" article on Wikipedia) to know though that coal mining was difficult, dirty and dangerous just from what I knew about the industry in North America.

As has been the case with other industries in Japan such as woodcutting and fishing, mining has also had its kayo kyoku representation. I've already posted on one min'yo titled "Tanko Bushi" (Coal Mine Melody) via Minyo Crusaders and the famous Michiya Mihashi（三橋美智也）. And just recently, from watching an episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本のうた）, I found out about another Mihashi tribute to coal mining, "Oira Tankoubu" (We Are Coal Miners) that was released in 1957, about a year following his version of "Tanko Bushi".

Written by Hiroshi Yokoi（横井弘）and composed by Hachiro Konoe（近衛八郎）, under the pseudonym of Toshiyo Kamata（鎌田俊與）, "Oira Tankoubu" has, for a lack of a better word, a rather industrious melody although not quite as cheerful as the legendary "Heigh Ho". There's a certain swagger in Mihashi's vocals (even some min'yo exhortations) as well, and in combination with Konoe's music, the message seems to be "We don't look too great, we don't smell too great but we are doing great...for Japan's economic boom".