Omuta history

In 2015, it was decided that "Industrial Revolution inheritance iron manufacture, the steel manufacture, shipbuilding, the coal mining industry of Meiji Japan" were registered with world heritage.(according to Omuta city)

In 1469, a farmer named Denjizaemon eventually found coal in the mountains when he made a bonfire. Coal mining would become the main industry in this area.

During the Edo period, Omuta was a part of the Miike han (Miike clan) and Yanagawa clan who also ruled Yanagawa. In 1721, Ono Harunobu, karo of Yanagawa han (daimyo's minister of Yanagawa clan) was granted the Takatori yama, and started to mine coal.

In 1873,The Meiji government purchased the MIIKE coalmine in 1873, modern mining began.But In 1889, the MIIKE coalmine was sold off to MITSUI Trust.

In the 1890s,Takuma Dan and his subordinates deployed mechanized and most advanced systems to Miike coal mine rapidly.
The drainage pumps Davey pumps and draft fans for coalmine galleries and shafts were powered by steam. Some at the time of the system has remained Miyanohara pit and Manda pit.

In 1908, Miike Port opened on Ariake Bay. Omuta became an industrial center in this region.

In 1908,Miike Port was opened to foreigners and in the next year Miike custom branch was established along the port, as a branch of the Nagasaki Custom.

In those days, many coal-related complexes were established and railways from the coal mine to these complexes were built in OMUTA City and ARAO City.

On March 1, 1917, Omuta received city status. Omuta had developed as an industrial city, centered on the Miike coal mine, which existed from the 1860s until 1997.

While miners enjoyed good wages, their working conditions were not very good, like many other Japanese laborers. In 1918 and 1924, big strikes and other protests arose.

In 1921 and 1941, mergers with neighboring towns and villages, including Omuta, occurred, and in 1941 the city became as large as it is now. The 1941 merger was a side effect of World War II: the government led mergers in many places, thinking it would make municipal administration more efficient.

During the war, Omuta was bombed in 1944 and 1945, not only in industrial areas, but also downtown.

The prisoner-of-war camp "Fukuoka 17", where allied prisoners were forced to work in the mines, was located in Shinkoumachi.

In 1959, Omuta recorded its largest population: 208,877. But from the second half of the 1950's, the sources of energy in Japan began shifting from coal to petroleum and nuclear energy. The costs of Japanese underground coal mining were much higher than those of the open pit mining of other countries. Japanese coalmines could not compete internationally.

A long general strike in 1953 and 1960 damaged both the enterprise and labourers.
Miike coal mine was open until 1997 as one of the largest coal mines in Japan while decline. The closure of Miike coal mine had a major effect on the local economy: many downtown shops and department stores closed.

Update

2016/03/21

This site has opened.NEW