How to Read “Good health is worth ten thousand kan”
たっしゃまんかんめ
Meaning of “Good health is worth ten thousand kan”
“Good health is worth ten thousand kan” teaches us that health is a treasure that nothing can replace. No matter how much money or status you have, you cannot enjoy them without good health.
On the other hand, even if you have little wealth, you can work and live a fulfilling life as long as you are healthy. This is the wisdom contained in this proverb.
People use this saying when someone gets sick, receives bad health check results, or works too hard without rest. It is also used to praise elderly people who remain energetic and active.
Modern medicine has advanced greatly, and many diseases can now be treated. However, the value of health has not changed.
In fact, in today’s stressful society, maintaining physical and mental health has become even more difficult. This makes the meaning of this proverb more important than ever.
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records explain the exact origin of “Good health is worth ten thousand kan.” However, we can understand its interesting background by looking at the parts that make up this phrase.
“Tassha” means being healthy and energetic. During the Edo period, people commonly used “tassha de na” as a farewell greeting. This shows that health was the greatest wish people had for each other.
“Mankanme” refers to a unit of weight. One kan equals about 3.75 kilograms. Ten thousand kan would be about 37,500 kilograms, an incredibly massive weight.
However, this phrase does not mean actual weight. Instead, it symbolizes value beyond measure. In the Edo period, kan was also used as a monetary unit. “Mankan” meant an enormous fortune.
In times when medicine was undeveloped, falling ill often meant death. No amount of wealth mattered if you lost your health.
From this desperate feeling, people expressed the value of health using the concrete number “ten thousand kan.” This made an invisible value visible and real.
Because this phrase came from common people’s everyday experience, they used the familiar unit of weight. This helped make the invisible value of health something people could actually picture.
Interesting Facts
The expression “ten thousand kan” represented an unimaginable weight for common people in the Edo period. At that time, one bag of rice weighed about 60 kilograms.
Ten thousand kan would equal about 625 bags of rice. This far exceeded the annual harvest of a typical farming family. In other words, it represented value you could not obtain in an entire lifetime.
Interestingly, many medical books from the Edo period remain today. Books like “Yojokun” taught people how to maintain their health. This shows that society widely shared the belief that health was the greatest treasure.
Usage Examples
- Even if you succeed at work, it means nothing if you ruin your health. Good health is worth ten thousand kan, after all.
- My grandfather still takes a walk every day even past 90. He truly embodies “Good health is worth ten thousand kan.”
Universal Wisdom
The proverb “Good health is worth ten thousand kan” contains a universal question. What should humans truly value most?
We humans tend to value things we can see and measure with numbers. Income, status, possessions. These are certainly easy to understand and compare with others.
However, we often realize the value of health, an invisible treasure, only after we lose it.
Why do people neglect their health? Because health is so natural that we do not notice its presence. Like air, it exists so naturally that we find it hard to feel grateful.
When we are young especially, we mistakenly believe our bodies can recover endlessly.
Our ancestors understood this human nature. That is why they gave health a concrete value of “ten thousand kan.” They tried to make its importance visible.
This is not just a lesson. It shows deep insight into human psychology.
Times may change, but the human body does not. No matter how much science and technology advance, happiness fades when we lose our health.
This truth remained the same a thousand years ago, remains true today, and will never change in the future.
When AI Hears This
When humans weigh health against great wealth, the brain performs a curious calculation. Research by behavioral economists Kahneman and Tversky shows something interesting.
People feel the pain of losing something about 2.5 times more strongly than the joy of gaining something of equal value. The sadness of losing one million yen affects the heart 2.5 times more than the happiness of receiving one million yen.
What makes this proverb fascinating is how it treats health as “something you already have.” Ten thousand kan of wealth is “something to gain in the future.” Health is “something you have now.”
According to prospect theory, humans judge using the current state as a reference point. The fear of losing health you currently have greatly exceeds the expectation of gaining future wealth.
If we assign the value of ten thousand kan as 100, the brain recognizes the loss of health as a loss exceeding 250.
Even more interesting is that health has a characteristic called “irreversibility.” You can recover lost money, but once you lose health, it often never fully returns.
This impossibility of recovery further strengthens loss aversion bias. The human brain struggles with probability calculations, but instinctively tries to avoid irreversible losses.
This proverb perfectly puts human cognitive characteristics into words. It was ancient behavioral economics.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people about the essence of priorities. Every day, we face various choices. Should we work overtime or go home early?
Should we make time for exercise or prioritize work? Should we sacrifice sleep to achieve our goals?
Modern society considers “working hard” a virtue. But do things gained by ruining your body truly have value? Career, money, achieving dreams—all of these stand on the foundation of health.
The important thing is to see health not as “something to sacrifice” but as “something to invest in.” Sufficient sleep, balanced meals, moderate exercise.
These are not a waste of time. They are investments that improve the performance of your entire life.
What can you do today? Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk one extra station. Stop staying up late and sleep early.
Small choices accumulate to protect your “ten thousand kan.” This becomes the best gift to your future self.
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