Humanity’s First Exam1850–1940 ⇄ now

1923 · Japanese · Japan

Sagyo Kikai (Work Machine)

Wakizo Hosoi

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Passage selected for Humanity's First Exam
こいつを人間が使ってだ／人々がその慾望を楽々と慰められると思ったが／奴等　金持がにっこりと微笑したに止って／機械の運転者――職工――は機構の一部となってしまった／機械的労働／十二時間／十八時間／徹夜！／寝ぼけてしまった職工／だが機械は疲れず高速度回転！／あっ？　機械が腕を喰った

Working English translation

People thought that by using this machine they could satisfy their wants with ease. But only those fellows, the rich, smiled. The machine's operator—the factory worker—became part of the mechanism. Mechanical labor: twelve hours, eighteen hours, all night. The worker is dazed with sleep, but the machine does not tire and spins at high speed. Ah—the machine has eaten an arm.

Aozora Bunko text, lines corresponding to the poem's final section; first published in Kusari, July 1923

1 selected passage and classifications

Passage 1

こいつを人間が使ってだ　人々がその慾望を楽々と慰められると思ったが　奴等　金持がにっこりと微笑したに止って　機械の運転者――職工――は機構の一部となってしまった　機械的労働　十二時間　十八時間　徹夜！　寝ぼけてしまった職工　だが機械は疲れず高速度回転！　あっ？　機械が腕を喰った　血……血……血………
Labour and mechanizationDependence, succession, and replacementhuman institutions · advancesdependence · advancesEconomic and material powerConsequences and welfareDiminishes autonomyIndividualInstitutionalMachine or artificial systemWork and economic order

Hosoi reverses the promised relation of use: the worker becomes a component of the mechanism while owners capture its benefits.

“作業機械”

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