About this work
Ten tanka and surrounding prose recount the anxiety of an unexpected hospital admission and the search for a second opinion. This English version is an editorial translation for access; the Japanese text remains available alongside it for comparison.
Parallel reading
日本語と英語で読む
Read the Japanese original and its English translation together. On smaller screens, each language follows in sequence.
日本語原文 Japanese original
心臓にやや圧迫感あり。近隣の病院へ。直ちに手術を言い渡され戸惑いながら入院となる。この病床、果たして真の深層はいかに。その真相知れずして、かかる古びた病棟にて切開手術を宣告されることの不安感は募りて止まぬ。
ふと問ひし院に囚われこの三日
生気も消え失せ死出の旅路か
ごうごうと唸る天井硬ベッド
明かり真上で深夜も眠れず
わが命父母に貰ひし余生まで
総て奪ふかそが営みか
いや出さぬ退院などは在り得ぬと
睨む医師の眼いかに読むべき
死の重さ生きたる日々を知りもせず
画像の解析嘘かまことか
古き器具古きトイレに尿瓶もて
点滴ゆるゆる哀弱ひどし
コレステ除去して血管拡張
糖分高しで衰弱はげし
院脱しよろめく足でスーパーへ
ウナギ食へれば力もつくか
治療室肉體処理のゴミ捨て場
友ら忘るな臓器うんぬん
甘いジャム糖分でんぷん盛だくさん
日々憔悴し切開近しか
納得ずくの入院であれば我が運命と諦めもするが、偶発入院ではとうてい我慢ならず、数日後、セカンド・オピニオンの口上にて退院できた。目下都内の最新設備の院にて、脈拍測定も何もかも正常にて検査中。
English translation 英訳
AI-assisted English translation. The Japanese original remains authoritative.
I felt a slight pressure in my chest and went to a nearby hospital. I was immediately told that I needed surgery and, bewildered, was admitted. What truly lay behind this hospital stay? Without knowing the facts, my anxiety only grew when I was told that I would undergo open surgery in such an old ward.
Three days confined in the hospital after a question asked in passing—
has all vitality left me; is this the road to death?
The ceiling roars above the hard bed;
the light directly overhead keeps me awake past midnight.
This life my parents gave me—even all the years remaining—
will that practice take everything away?
“No, I will not release you; discharge is out of the question.”
How should I read the doctor’s glaring eyes?
Knowing neither the weight of death nor the days I have lived,
is the reading of those images false or true?
Old equipment, an old toilet, a urinal bottle;
the IV drips slowly—my weakness is pitiful.
Remove the cholesterol and widen the vessels;
my sugar is high, my exhaustion severe.
Escaping the hospital, I stagger toward the supermarket;
would eating eel give me strength?
The treatment room, a dump for the processing of bodies—
friends, do not forget all this talk of organs.
Sweet jam, laden with sugar and starch;
I waste away by the day, the incision drawing near.
Had I entered the hospital with full understanding, I might have accepted it as my fate. But I could not endure this unexpected admission. Several days later, invoking my right to a second opinion, I was discharged. I am now being examined at a Tokyo hospital with up-to-date equipment; my pulse and every other measurement are normal.
Original wording, author credits, notes and source materials are preserved there.