The 'Sad Memory' I Want to Share Now: Reflecting on the World Heritage Site, Manda Pit

Visitor

One day, a couple who said they were relatives on my father's side visited our home. This is a memory from when I was still a child.
Both of them seemed refined and kind.
After I greeted them, I went into my room.
A while later, I could hear them talking through the sliding paper door.
"How long has it been now?"
My mother asked.
Then, I heard the wife sobbing.
The two of them began to talk slowly about their only son.
And about 'that day' as well.

An only son who was devoted to his parents

The son of the couple who visited was, by all accounts, a kind-hearted person who was devoted to his parents.
That son had caught a bad cold, was bedridden for about a week, and had taken time off work.
Since his symptoms had settled down a bit, he announced that he would go to work the next day.
"Why don't you take it easy and rest for just one more day?" his parents urged him.
Even so, the son said,
"I'll be fine," he said, soothing his worried parents, and the next day he left for work.
And then... that day, there was an explosion at his workplace.
He never returned home.
"Why didn't I stop him more firmly back then?"

"If only I had let him rest for one more day."
"I regret it more than words can say."
The voices of the grieving parents were trembling.

The terrible event that occurred at the Miike Coal Mine

On November 9, 1963 (Showa 38), a major coal dust explosion occurred at the Mikawa Pit in Omuta City, Fukuoka Prefecture.
458 people who were working there lost their lives.
Some were as young as 19 years old.
Furthermore, 839 people were transported to hospitals due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
I hear that even now, there are people suffering from the aftereffects.

The Miike Coal Mine [Manda Pit], now a World Cultural Heritage site

In July 2015, the Manda Pit was registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.
Located in Arao City, Kumamoto Prefecture, the Manda Pit was also a filming location for the movie "Rurouni Kenshin" starring Takeru Satoh, and it continues to attract attention.
In addition to the Manda Pit, there were multiple other pits at the Miike Coal Mine, and those were also located in Omuta City, Fukuoka Prefecture.

My roots

I was born in Omuta City, Fukuoka Prefecture.
And from a certain point until I was in kindergarten, I lived in the company housing of the Miike Coal Mine.
The company housing consisted of black-painted wooden, single-story row houses.
Many of them were lined up on a large plot of land.
There was a garden, and our family kept chickens.
There was no bath, so we would go to the large communal bath on the premises during designated hours.
I remember being treated kindly by the grandmother who lived next door and her granddaughter, an older girl.
Because my father changed jobs, our family moved to Hakata.
Even so, many of my relatives still live in Omuta today.

Thoughts

Registration as a World Cultural Heritage site is a joyous thing.
It was only through the passionate efforts of the local people that this wish was finally granted.
However, history also contains sad and painful events.
I wanted to keep that fact engraved in my heart.