Saburosuke Nakajima · Shogunate retainer
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.
Translation
Cuckoo, I too know what it is to feel as if I am coughing blood.
Reading
For Nakajima Saburo-suke, a former shogunate retainer who died in Hakodate, the image of a cuckoo coughing blood overlaps powerfully. It is short and sharp. Read together with Saburosuke Nakajima, the poem is not only a matter of literal meaning; it shows a scene where beauty and violence rise together. With the figure in mind, what remains after reading is resolve, solitude, and the beauty that often belongs to the defeated side.
Background
Introduced as Nakajima Saburo-suke's death poem. His death in battle at Chiyogadai with his sons deepens the pain of the verse. A former shogunate officer from Uraga who fought through the Hakodate War and died at Chiyogadai. 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.
