In "Ashio Kodoku Sanjo Gaho" (Reports and Pictures of Ashio Mining Pollution) (1901), Ryukai MATSUMOTO revealed the horrifying fact that in five years there had been only two men who had passed the medical for the draft (there were fifty people who met the age for the draft) in Takayama of Sakai Village, Aso County (present Takayama-cho, Sano City, population of approximately 800 at that time), and out of those two that passed, one was subsequently discharged on medical grounds after only ten days.
松本隆海は、『足尾鉱毒惨状画報』（1901年）で、安蘇郡界村字高山（現佐野市高山町、当時の人口約800人）で、5年間で兵役合格者がわずか2名しか出ておらず（適齢者は延べ50名）、しかも、その合格者のうち1名も入隊後10日で病気で除隊となったという逸話を紹介している。