, also known as the , was a coal mine located in the area of Ōmuta

Omuta, Fukuoka

is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.As of January 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 127,126 and the density of 1,558.87 persons per km²...

, Fukuoka

Fukuoka Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka.- History :Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen....

 and Arao, Kumamoto

Arao, Kumamoto

is a city located in Kumamoto, Japan.As of April 30, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 56,144, with a household number of 23,966 and the density of 982.40 persons per km². The total area is 57.15 km².The city was founded on April 1, 1942....

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Mining began in the Edo Period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 and the mine was nationalised in 1872. The Mitsui

Mitsui

is one of the largest corporate conglomerates in Japan and one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world.-History:Founded by Mitsui Takatoshi , who was the fourth son of a shopkeeper in Matsusaka, in what is now today's Mie prefecture...

 zaibatsu

Zaibatsu

is a Japanese term referring to industrial and financial business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed for control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until the end of World War II.-Terminology:...

 took control in 1899.

From 1960 to 1962 the mine was involved in a much-reported labor dispute which divided the workers and involved violent strike-breaking actions. In 1963 an explosion resulted in the deaths of 458 people

Mitsui Miike Coal Mine disaster

The Mitsui Miike Coal Mine disaster was an accidental explosion at the Miike coal mine in Kyushu, Japan on 9 November 1963. Four-hundred fifty-eight people were killed by the explosion or carbon monoxide poisoning caused by the explosion. Eight-hundred thirty-nine others were injured by the blast...

, 438 of whom died from carbon monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after enough inhalation of carbon monoxide . Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect...

.

The mine closed in 1997.