During rehabilitation after a life-threatening illness in 2011, the author listened to George Harrison’s “Marwa Blues” while walking hospital corridors with an IV stand. This essay dedicates that music to the author’s mother, the people of Yuriage, and readers worldwide on March 11.

2016-03-14

This piece of music came from an album by George Harrison, which I was listening to while walking at a steady pace through the circular corridors of the hospital, pushing an IV stand as part of my rehabilitation.

In May 2011, I had been hospitalized for seven months with a life-threatening illness.
Thanks to doctors—graduates of Kyoto University’s Faculty of Medicine, with whom I felt a profound sense of fate—and to truly wonderful nurses, the moment came when it became certain that I had overcome a survival probability of only 25 percent.
It was at that time, in what was truly an excellent hospital, that this music played as I walked.

On March 11, I wanted to dedicate this piece to my mother, to everyone in Yuriage, and to readers all over the world, but the title would not come to mind.

A short while ago, I searched YouTube, thinking that if there were a song by 笹川美和, a genuine singer born in Niigata, I might offer that instead, but the song I had in mind was not there.

As I continued searching, I remembered that the title must have begun with the letter “M.”
I searched again, and there it was.

I dedicate it to my mother, to everyone in Yuriage, and to readers around the world.

Marwa Blues