Kounsai Takeda · Mito
Original
討つもはた
Kounsai Takeda's death poem, "討つもはた討たれるもはた哀れなり同じ". Read the original Japanese, translation, meaning, and historical background. This poem carries the sadness of civil war beyond friend and enemy.
Person
A leading figure of the Mito Tengu Party, executed after surrendering at Tsuruga in Echizen. In him the zeal of Mito loyalism becomes old, cold, and tragic, buried under the snow of a failed march.
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Translation
Those who strike and those who are struck are equally pitiful, if this is one same Japan tearing itself apart.
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
This poem carries the sadness of civil war beyond friend and enemy. It refuses to reduce the Bakumatsu to simple victory and defeat.
Background
Introduced as a death poem connected with the Tengu Party. The pain of loyalist fervor becoming civil war is easy for modern readers to feel. A leading figure of the Mito Tengu Party, executed after surrendering at Tsuruga in Echizen.
Source / Transmission Wording and readings may differ by transmission; this page treats the text as one circulated form.
Further Reading
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