Taisuke Itagaki · Tosa
Person
A Tosa samurai who led troops in the Boshin War and later became central to the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. Before the language of rights, there was the battlefield; Itagaki's life crosses from armed restoration into public politics.
Translation
I have not stained the imperial army; I seek only a name in history, watching soldiers climb the walls as bullets fly like rain.
Reading
The poem has the immediacy of the Boshin War battlefield. Apart from the later advocate of popular rights, it can show Itagaki as a commander in battle. Read together with Taisuke Itagaki, the poem is not only a matter of literal meaning; it shows the moment where the person's resolve overlaps with the pain of the age. With the figure in mind, what remains after reading is resolve, solitude, and the beauty that often belongs to the defeated side.
Background
A Chinese poem from the period when Itagaki Taisuke led troops in the Boshin War. It carries the presence of Tosa soldiers advancing toward Koshu and Aizu. A Tosa samurai who led troops in the Boshin War and later became central to the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. The words carry the inner pressure of someone caught in Bakumatsu politics, war, execution, exile, or the losses that followed the Restoration. Even where the transmission is uncertain, they quietly preserve the pain of the age.
Source / Transmission Wording and readings may differ by transmission; this page treats the text as one circulated form.
