Hachiro Kiyokawa · Shonai
Original
魁けて
Hachiro Kiyokawa's death poem, "魁けてまたさきがけん死出の山迷ひはせ". Read the original Japanese, translation, meaning, and historical background. As a strategist who helped create a new current, Kiyokawa's sense of going first is strong in this death poem.
Person
A strategist from Shonai who helped set in motion the Roshigumi, the current from which the Shinsengumi emerged. His shifting plans helped split loyalist and shogunate paths, and he was assassinated before the consequences fully unfolded.
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Translation
Having led the way, I will lead again over the mountain of death; I will not lose the imperial path.
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
As a strategist who helped create a new current, Kiyokawa's sense of going first is strong in this death poem. It is interesting as the prehistory of the Shinsengumi.
Background
Passed down as the death poem of Kiyokawa Hachiro, who maneuvered around the Roshigumi and was later assassinated. It shows the moment when anti-shogunate and pro-shogunate paths split. A strategist from Shonai who helped set in motion the Roshigumi, the current from which the Shinsengumi emerged.
Source / Transmission Wording and readings may differ by transmission; this page treats the text as one circulated form.
Further Reading
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