Masujiro Omura · Choshu
Original
君のため
Masujiro Omura's death poem, "君のため捨つる命は惜しからでただ思わ". Read the original Japanese, translation, meaning, and historical background. The gaze that thinks of the nation's future more than personal death is very Omura.
Person
A physician and military scholar from Choshu who helped design Japan's modern army. A cool architect of military reform, he died after being attacked just as the new state's armed form was beginning to appear.
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Translation
I do not regret giving my life for my lord; what weighs on me is only the country’s future.
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 gaze that thinks of the nation's future more than personal death is very Omura. It conveys the cold resolve of the architect of modern military organization.
Background
Introduced as Omura Masujiro's death poem. After being attacked in the new era, he died with the modern Japanese military system still before him, which gives the poem weight. A physician and military scholar from Choshu who helped design Japan's modern army.
Source / Transmission Wording and readings may differ by transmission; this page treats the text as one circulated form.
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