Japanese Medical Questionnaire: Filling In the Monshinhyō at a Clinic

The core idea: today first, then you

The name tells you what the form is for. Monshinhyō is written 問診票, literally a slip for questioning-examination: mon is to ask, shin is to examine, and hyō is a form. Monshin is the part of a consultation where the doctor asks questions, and the paper lets you answer some of them in advance, in writing, while you wait.

Because it copies an interview, the order barely changes from clinic to clinic. First comes today's problem. Then comes the background: history, medicines, allergies, pregnancy, smoking and drinking, the things a doctor checks before choosing a test or a medicine. Keep this two-part shape in mind and an unfamiliar heading usually explains itself by where it sits.

The scene: you arrive at a neighbourhood clinic with a fever and hand over your insurance card. The receptionist says one of these.

UnihongoLife in Japan

こちらの問診もんしん票ひょうにご記入きにゅうください。Please fill in this questionnaire.

The top half: what, since when, and how hot

Shōjō (症状), symptoms, is usually a grid of tick boxes: netsu, fever; seki, cough; zutsū, headache; fukutsū, stomach ache, and a box for sonota, other, with space to write. Tick all that apply. Itsu kara, since when, wants a starting point, not a duration, so the answer ends in kara, from. Write a date, or a phrase such as mikka mae kara, from three days ago.

Taion (体温) is your temperature, written in Celsius with one decimal: 37.8. When people say it aloud, the decimal becomes bu, an old unit of one tenth, so 37.8 is sanjūnana-do hachi-bu. Some forms also ask for heinetsu (平熱), literally ordinary heat, your usual temperature when you are well. When a nurse asks since when, these are natural answers.

Marking where it hurts on the body chart

Orthopaedic and dermatology forms, and many general ones, include a body outline seen from the front, mae, and from the back, ushiro. The instruction is printed above it, and you answer by drawing on the figure. Some forms print a small key, kigō, asking for different marks for different feelings, for example one for pain and another for numbness. When there is a key, follow it; when there is none, a circle is the standard mark.

The trap is left and right. The labels, when a form prints them, mean the figure's own sides, which are your sides once you imagine stepping into the drawing. In the front view the figure faces you, so its right hand is on your left. In the back view it faces away, so its right is also on your right. The reason is simple: the doctor reads the chart as your body, not as a picture on a page.

UnihongoLife in Japan

痛いいたいところに〇をつけてください。Please circle the places that hurt.

The bottom half: the background before tests and medicine

The lower half is a row of short questions, most answered with nai, none, or aru, yes, followed by brackets for details. Each one is there because it can change what the doctor chooses to do, which is why the form asks everyone the same things. Kiōreki (既往歴) is literally a record of what has already gone by: your past illnesses. Kitsuen (喫煙) is literally consuming smoke, with the same first kanji as kissaten, a coffee shop, literally a place for consuming tea.

Smoking lines often add a blank for cigarettes a day, ichinichi nan-bon, and drinking lines may ask for type and amount. Give your usual figure.

Answer marks: circles, ticks, crosses and blanks

Japanese forms use two ways of choosing. A printed list of words, such as nai, aru, wakaranai, is answered by drawing a circle, maru, around the one that applies. A row of square boxes is answered with a tick, called chekku. A cross, batsu, is not a way of choosing. In Japan, maru means yes or correct and batsu means no or wrong, so a cross drawn on an option reads as a rejection of it.

If you make a mistake, draw two neat lines through it, nijūsen, and write the correction beside it. For a reading line, match the script: a heading printed as フリガナ in katakana wants katakana, and ふりがな in hiragana wants hiragana. These are the printed instructions that tell you which system a form uses.

Beyond the basics: kanji pairs that look alike

Once you can find your way around the page, the remaining difficulty is headings that share a kanji. Each pair below differs in one character, and that character carries the meaning. Some clinics now send the form as a web page or hand you a tablet, but the headings are the same words.

Asking reception for help

Reception staff explain the form every day, so asking is normal. Point at the line and keep the question short. If a field is still unclear, leave it and tell the doctor in person. The symptom words themselves, and what happens at a hospital emergency room, are covered in separate posts; here we stay with the paper.

Common mistakes on the questionnaire

Circling the wrong knee. The cause is reading the front view like a photo and forgetting that its right is on your left. The fix is to touch the place on your own body first, then find it on the figure.

Reading kitsuen as no smoking. No-smoking signs, kin'en, are everywhere, so the eye jumps to the shared kanji for smoke. The fix is the first kanji: 喫 means taking in, 禁 means forbidden.

Crossing out the options that do not apply. In some countries a cross marks the chosen box, but in Japan batsu means no. Circle or tick the answer you want and leave the others alone.

Leaving the medicines blank because you do not know their Japanese names. The cause is assuming every answer must be in Japanese. Write the names in English or as printed on the packet, or show the packet or your okusuri techō.

Writing the temperature in Fahrenheit or without a decimal. The form expects Celsius, as on any thermometer sold in Japan, so 100.4 should be written 38.0.