Talk:Gappo Park

Reason for death

The phrase in the article "In 1885 Eisaku died of karoshi (death by overwork) while building the park" (which is the basis for the DYK hook) does not seem to be backed up by the supplied source.

The given source states "水原は公園創設に命をかけるが、公園の完成を見ることなく、１８８５（明治１８）年に亡くなった。", which may *imply* that he died from working on the park, but it does not *state* such. The more natural interpretation of this sentence is that he simply died partway through the construction of the park.

Was there a misunderstanding of the phrase "…に命をかける"? Because that phrasing is only indicative of the subject's intention and/or determination, and does not necessarily imply that the subject literally laid down his/her life to achieve a particular result. The interpretation of this as an occurrence of karoshi seems suspect at best (also noting that karoshi is a modern term, which means the use of it here could not be from records of the time).

As a further reference, this document (https://hirosaki.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=1389&file_id=20&file_no=1) from Hirosaki University on the history of the creation of the park states:

…公園造園作業に昼も夕もなく従事した彼は病に倒れ、公園の完成を見ることなく生涯を閉じた。

which indicates only that he fell ill and died in the time he was working hard on the park, but doesn't actually state that his work was the fundamental cause of his death.

153.227.104.122 (talk) 09:24, 8 May 2020 (UTC)