Mitsui Tagawa Mining Works Fire Brigade Long-Service Award Badge/三井田川鉱業所共愛組合消防組表彰章

Specimen from the collection of Raymond LaBar. Photos courtesy of the owner.

Obverse

表彰 - Award

reverse

十年勤続 - 10 Years of Continuous Service

三井田川鑛業所 = 三井田川鉱業所 - Mitsui Tagawa Mining Works

共愛組合消防組 - Mutual Fire Brigade

Mitsui Tagawa was founded in 1900 when Mitsui acquired the mining areas of the Tagawa Coal Mining Group (formerly the Tagawa Coal Mining Company ). Initially, it was called "Mitsui Tagawa Coal Mine," but due to organizational reform in 1918, it was renamed "Mitsui Tagawa Mining Office." A major turning point for Mitsui Tagawa was the completion of the Ida Shaft in Ita in 1910. The deep shaft, which stretched about 350m underground, became the main shaft and led Miitagawa to the head of Chikuho. The first and second chimneys and the Ita shaft tower , which appear in the Coal Mine section, became symbols of Miitagawa. On the other hand, because Miitagawa was a large coal mine, it also had a great impact on the local community. The most prominent example of this is the birth of Tagawa City in 1943, when Ida-cho and Gotoji-cho, which were castle towns of Miitagawa, merged. As can be seen from the fact that many cultural figures from the central government visited the Miitagawa Club (commonly known as the Hyakuenzaka Club), a welfare facility for Miitagawa employees, it also had a great impact on culture and welfare. Miitagawa was not only a coal mine, but also the economic core of the Tagawa region, but it was closed in 1964.​