Saburosuke Nakajima · Shogunate retainer Saburosuke Nakajima's death poem, "われもまた死士と呼ばれん白牡丹". Read the original Japanese, translation, meaning, and historical background. The purity of the white peony and the hard word 'death warrior' form a beautiful contrast.
Person
A former shogunate officer from Uraga who fought through the Hakodate War and died at Chiyogadai. His final stand with his sons gives the old shogunate side a stark, almost familial beauty of defeat.
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Translation
Let me too be called a man of death, a white peony prepared to fall.
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 purity of the white peony and the hard word 'death warrior' form a beautiful contrast. It can quietly adorn the end of a former shogunate retainer.
Background
Passed down as Nakajima Saburo-suke's death poem. It resonates with the aesthetics of a former shogunate man who refused surrender and died at the end of the Hakodate War. A former shogunate officer from Uraga who fought through the Hakodate War and died at Chiyogadai.
Source / Transmission Wording and readings may differ by transmission; this page treats the text as one circulated form.
Further Reading
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