The coalfields spread across the basins of the Onga, Kama, Honami, Hikoyama, and Inunaki rivers.

Around the middle of the Muromachi period, local residents discovered coal and used it as a more efficient fuel than firewood.

From the Meiji period, the importance of coal as fuel for steamships and steam locomotives, as well as in production of iron and steel was immediately evident to the Meiji government, and coal mine development proceeded rapidly.

The prosperity of the area continued for a long time after World War II, as Japan rebuilt and re-industrialized.

In order to preserve historical materials, Nōgata, Tagawa, Iizuka and Miyawaka have opened museums and archives that specialize in coal.