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FIRST NIGHT AND SPRING AT SANATORIUM

  It was in 1936(Showa 11) all judges of Literature World 
Award experienced deep shock. They found menacingly 
compassionate work.
  It's title was "The First Night of Life", depicted without
any reserve the agony of asick person suffered Hansen disease
. He had been driven to the extreme to live in a sanatorium
shut out from outer world, completely away from his past, 
from the society he had been lived in.
  In those days, there was no adequate medical treatment 
for the Hansen disease, once suffered, it led to a miserable
death. Generally, people believed that it could be infected
anywhere, anytime, so they extraordinary feared the sickness
. Once fell ill, the sick person should move to live 
separately in sanatoria compulsorily.
  The work was recommended to the Award not by fear not 
compassion but it showed keen critical eyes of the writer 
and his steady writing ability. 
  His pen name was Tamio Hojo, not known his real name. His 
past should have been so completely erased. "Spring of 
Little Bird" dealt similarly the tragedy of separated life 
through eyes and mind of a woman, which was once made in 
movie and well known among people.
  The author, Masako Ogawa, treated those sick person as 
nurse and believed to catch the disease later and dead in a 
sanatorium in a small island in the Inland Sea.

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