The Accident Was Not Simply Bad Luck: Masaoka Shiki and My Rehabilitation August 20, 2026 (Thursday) Reiwa8

I woke up again this morning because of the pain in my left arm.

It has been about two months since I fell from my electric three-wheeled bicycle on June 18 and fractured my left upper arm.

During these past two months, I have often wondered, "Why did this happen to me?"

I had finally become accustomed to riding my electric three-wheeled bicycle.

I came to Matsuyama in May, and after riding it for about a month and a half, I had finally gotten used to it. There were also places I wanted to visit.

That day, I was going down the steep hill in front of Eden no Sono. Without getting off the bicycle, I tried to press the pedestrian button at the traffic light, and I fell.

I fell very hard, and my entire body weight landed on my left arm.

The pain was unbelievable.

After that, I had surgery and began rehabilitation.

However, because the fracture was complicated, rehabilitation did not progress as I had hoped. I was also in pain. I ended up visiting several hospitals, and little by little, I began to think, "Why have I been so unlucky?"

Yesterday, I received an explanation about hospitalization at Dogo Onsen Hospital.

I do not know when a room will become available, but the process has progressed to the point where they will call me when a room opens up.

I received explanations about the documents required for hospitalization, meals, daily life, visiting hours, physical restraints, and other basic matters. I will fill out the necessary agreements and forms later.

During the explanation, I was asked once again about the accident.

"You did not hit your head, did you?"

That was what I was asked.

At that moment, for the first time, I looked at the accident itself from a different perspective.

What if I had hit my head with that much force?

I might have fractured my skull.
I might have suffered serious damage inside my head.
I might have lost consciousness.
I might even have lost my life.

Of course, I do not mean that fracturing my arm was a good thing.

It still hurts.
Rehabilitation is still difficult.
My daily life is still inconvenient.

But I am alive.

I did not hit my head. The injury was limited to my left arm.

Until then, I had mostly thought, "I was so unlucky."

But for the first time, I realized that I could also think,

"It was a terrible accident, but I survived."

There was another coincidence yesterday.

The explanation at the hospital took longer than expected, so I could not catch my usual bus.

There was no bus in the 2:00 p.m. hour, so I decided to visit the Masaoka Shiki Memorial Museum, a place I had wanted to visit for some time.

In fact, I realized that I knew very little about Masaoka Shiki.

I knew that he was a famous haiku poet.
I knew that he developed spinal caries at a young age and died when he was only 34 or 35.

That was about all I knew.

However, as I went through the exhibits, I learned that Shiki was a very talented young man. He entered the University of Tokyo, but he was interested in many things, including literature and baseball. He eventually left the university and joined a newspaper company. He also became a war correspondent during the Sino-Japanese War.

However, the experience placed a great strain on his body, and he suffered a severe episode of coughing up blood on his way home to Japan.

After that, his illness continued to progress.

His pen name, "Shiki," was also connected to the traditional image of the hototogisu, or lesser cuckoo, coughing up blood while singing.

I think he was conscious of his own approaching death.

And yet, Shiki did not give up on his life simply because he had become ill.

He wrote haiku.
He wrote prose.
He developed the literary magazine Hototogisu.
He continued his literary activities together with many other people.

Even while suffering from illness and severe pain, he continued to do what he could.

Of course, Shiki must also have experienced suffering and despair.

His younger sister Ritsu and the people close to him also went through great hardships.

Even so, I felt that it is possible to continue living while suffering and, at the same time, continue moving forward.

What I thought about the accident at the hospital yesterday and what I learned at the Shiki Memorial Museum by coincidence somehow became connected in my mind.

When something happens to us, we cannot change the fact that it happened.

The accident happened.
The fracture happened.
The pain is real.

But we can decide how we interpret what happened and how we live from that point onward.

Until now, I had not been able to look at my accident in that way.

From June 18 until today, I had simply kept thinking,

"Why did this happen to me?"

But yesterday, for the first time, I thought,

"Perhaps I was not simply unlucky after all."

There was also something else I remembered.

My rehabilitation therapist once told me something like this:

"It may be painful. Some people will not even let me touch them because it hurts. I wonder how you will do."

When the therapist learned that I had been a high school teacher, he said something like,

"Oh, you were a high school teacher. Then you must have experienced a lot of difficult things."

As he touched my body during the rehabilitation session, he said things like,

"This part is still not ready."

And then he said,

"I could tolerate this. I could do it."

I do not think that being a high school teacher automatically makes someone especially strong or patient.

But when you work for many years, you experience many difficult things, disappointments, frustrations, and situations that do not go the way you want.

Perhaps people who have gone through such experiences sometimes develop the ability to endure difficult situations.

I think what my therapist meant was that rehabilitation can involve that level of pain and difficulty.

This morning, I wanted to write all of this down before I forgot these feelings.

And after writing this, I am going to start studying for the Registered Sales Clerk examination again.

It has been about two months since the accident.

I am still in pain.
I am still tired.

But I am here.

And there are still things I can do.

Just as Masaoka Shiki continued to write haiku and prose even while being conscious of his illness and death, I want to continue doing what I can do now.

First, I will return to my studies for the Registered Sales Clerk examination.

Unexpected things happen in life.

We cannot always choose what happens to us.

But we can choose, at least to some extent, how we accept what has happened and how we live afterward.

There is still a part of life that we can choose for ourselves.

Today is August 20.

August is already coming to an end.

From here, I will try to take another step forward.


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