Humanity’s First Exam1850–1940 ⇄ now

1930 · Japanese · Japan

Kikai (Machine)

Riichi Yokomitsu

Passage selected for Humanity's First Exam
それにも拘らず私たちの間には一切が明瞭に分っているかのごとき見えざる機械が絶えず私たちを計っていてその計ったままにまた私たちを押し進めてくれているのである。

Working English translation

Nevertheless, among us an unseen machine, as if everything were clearly understood, is constantly measuring us and pushing us onward according to its measurements.

Final section; first published in Kaizo, 1 September 1930

1 selected passage and classifications

Passage 1

この穴へ落ち込むと金属を腐蝕させる塩化鉄で衣類や皮膚がだんだん役に立たなくなり、臭素の刺戟で咽喉を破壊し夜の睡眠がとれなくなるばかりではなく頭脳の組織が変化して来て視力さえも薄れて来る。

Yokomitsu locates mechanized work’s violence in the gradual bodily and cognitive degradation imposed by factory chemicals.

Opening section, narrator on hazardous chemical work

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