Gensai Kawakami · Higo
Original
かねてより
Gensai Kawakami's death poem, "かねてよりなき身と知れど君が世を思う". Read the original Japanese, modern translation, interpretation, and historical context as distinct parts of the poem.
Person
A Higo loyalist known for the assassination of Sakuma Shozan, later executed after the Restoration.
Learn about Kawakami Gensai
Translation
I knew long ago my body was as nothing; only the heart that thinks of my lord remains in the world.
Poetic Shape A Japanese death poem is less a final explanation than a last shape given to feeling. Its brevity matters: a life is not narrated, but compressed into a few lines that leave room for silence.
Reading
The poem carries the feeling of someone who has lived with death assumed from the beginning.Gensai's extremity appears as a thought of self-erasure.
Background
Passed down among Kawakami Gensai's death poems.Executed after the Restoration, he leaves behind the loyalty of a man stranded by the age he helped create.
Source / Transmission Wording and readings may differ by transmission; this page treats the text as one circulated form.
Further Reading
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