Explains why the workers at the Ashio copper mine joined together for three days of rioting against the Furukawa Company in February 1907. In the course of this historical analysis, this book takes on some of the most influential critical perspectives on Japanese social and labour history. It will interest scholars of labour history.

"Nimura is by all measures a leading figure in the field of Japanese labor history. And he has much to tell us about how labor in Japan was transformed in the Meiji period from traditional structures to a newer and more 'modern' system."--Fred G. Notehelfer, UCLA Center for Japanese Studies