Miike Coal Mines (Manda Pit)

The Miike Coal Mine (三池炭鉱) was one of Japan's largest and most historically significant coal mining operations, spanning the cities of Omuta in Fukuoka Prefecture and Arao in Kumamoto Prefecture, on the northwestern coast of Kyushu. Coal was first discovered in the area by a farmer in 1469, and commercial-scale exploitation began in 1721 under a senior retainer (karō) of the Yanagawa domain (some accounts say of the Miike domain).

In 1873, the Meiji government introduced convict labor at the mine, establishing Miike Prison in 1883 specifically to supply workers. The brutal conditions earned the mine the nickname 'Shura-ko' (修羅坑, 'Hell Pit'). In 1889, the mine was transferred to the Mitsui zaibatsu, which continued using convict labor in the pits until 1930; the Miike prison closed in 1931.

The Manda Pit (万田坑) was opened approximately 1.5 kilometers south of the earlier Miyanohara Pit. Excavation of the No. 1 Shaft began in 1897 and was completed in 1902; the No. 2 Shaft was started in 1898 and completed in 1908. At its peak, the Manda Pit boasted Japan's largest vertical shaft facilities. The Second Shaft headframe (yagura), winding engine house, warehouses, and pump rooms survive today as nationally designated Important Cultural Properties. The Manda Pit ceased coal production in 1951, though the No. 2 Shaft continued to serve as a drainage and ventilation facility until 1997.

During World War II, the Miike Coal Mine became a major site of forced labor on multiple fronts. Beginning in 1939, Korean civilians were conscripted through a succession of increasingly coercive mobilization methods — initial 'recruitment' (募集), followed by government-mediated placement (官斡旋) from 1942, and outright conscription (徴用) from 1944. Several thousand Koreans were forced to work in the Miike mines. In 1942, the Japanese government also began transporting Chinese laborers to Japan by cabinet decision; 2,481 Chinese workers were brought to the Mitsui Miike Coal Mine, of whom 635 perished — a mortality rate of approximately 25.6%.

Additionally, the mine served as the site of Fukuoka POW Camp #17, the largest Allied prisoner-of-war camp in the Japanese Empire. Opened on August 7, 1943, the camp eventually held approximately 1,735 to 1,757 American, Australian, British, and Dutch prisoners of war. American, Australian, and Dutch POWs were forced to mine coal in the Mitsui pits, while British POWs worked in a nearby Mitsui zinc foundry. Conditions were described as slave labor, with extreme physical hardship, inadequate food, and punitive treatment.

The entire Miike Coal Mine complex finally closed in March 1997 after 108 years of Mitsui management. In July 2015, the Miike Coal Mine (including the Manda Pit, Miyanohara Pit, Miike Coal Railway, and Miike Port) was inscribed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining.' The inscription was contingent upon Japan's promise to inform visitors of the full history of each site, including the forced mobilization of workers — a commitment that has been criticized as unfulfilled.