（解説文要約）
明治の中ごろ、筑豊地方の小規模炭坑には低炭層、つまり、石炭の層が薄い採炭現場が多くありました。

低炭層での採炭の場合、現場の天井は低く、先山（さきやま）は座ったり寝そべったりして採炭します。
後山（あとやま）は、炭車が通る運搬坑道まで運び出し、そこに一旦ためて、炭車が来るのを待ちます。

これをカブダシと言います。炭車のレールもカブダシができるように片側に寄せて敷かれていました。

炭の丈が低いので、炭函との隙間も少なく、石炭を炭函に入れこむのが困難だったようです。

また、空の炭車がなかなか来ないと石炭があふれ、仕事ができませんでした。

 

 

Around 1900, there were many coal faces in thin seams at small sized coal mines in the Chikuhoregion.
In these thin coal seams, drive ceilings were low and hewers had to dig in a squatting position or even lying down.
Atoyama,the carrier, would carry out coal to the coal skip drives; then would stock coal at an open space, waiting for the next skip to arrive to load it. This stocking of coal was called Kabudashi.
In order to do Kabudashi, the rail of the coal car was set to one side of the driveway.
Because the seam was low, there was little space between the ceiling and the top of the skip. 

It was very difficult for the Atoyama to load coal into the skip through this narrow gap.
When an empty skip was not available, coal backed up at the coal face which hindered the hewer’s job.