Yataro Iwasaki · Tosa
Original
獄中詩 其一
Yataro Iwasaki's Chinese-style poem, "獄中詩其一一身存亡何用説白髪在堂涙自". Read the original Japanese, translation, meaning, and historical background. This shows not the later tycoon Iwasaki Yataro, but a young man of Tosa in prison.
Person
A Tosa-born entrepreneur who experienced imprisonment in the Bakumatsu and later founded Mitsubishi. Before the image of the industrial founder, his poems reveal a young man shaped by provincial injustice, ambition, and family feeling.
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Translation
My own survival need hardly be spoken of; thinking of my white-haired mother, tears fall, and I long to meet her face at least in a dream.
Poetic Shape Kanshi draws on a classical Chinese poetic tradition, where restraint, allusion, and moral tension carry much of the weight. The poem sounds formal, but the pressure beneath it is personal.
Reading
This shows not the later tycoon Iwasaki Yataro, but a young man of Tosa in prison. His feeling for his mother is unexpectedly soft.
Background
A Chinese poem written when Iwasaki Yataro was imprisoned in the Ansei period. Anger over Tosa politics, injustice, and family feeling intersect. A Tosa-born entrepreneur who experienced imprisonment in the Bakumatsu and later founded Mitsubishi.
Source / Transmission Wording and readings may differ by transmission; this page treats the text as one circulated form.
Further Reading
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