| Poetry Of The Samurai Taira no Tadanori (1144-1184) Sazanami ya Shiga no miyako wa arenishi o mukashi nagara no yama-zakura kana In Shiga capital; rippling waves have turned wild but mountain cherries remain as of old. Hosokawa Fujitaka (1600) Inishie mo ima mo kawaranu yo no naka ni kokoro no tane o nokosu koto no ha The world now unchanged from ancient times leaves that are words retain seeds in the heart Kuribayashi Tadamichi (1945) Ada utade nobe ni wa kuchiji ware wa mata natabi umarete hoko wo toramuzo Foe unvanquished, I won't perish in the field; I'll be born again, to take up the halberd seven more times. I have been e-mailed repeatedly to explain what this poem means. So here goes. General Tadamichi was in command of the Japanese forces defending Iwo Jima. On 17 March, 1945, Tadamichi telegraphed three poems, the one above included, just before he took 800 men and charged the enemy. "I'll be born again, to take up the halberd seven more times." This line is in reference to many poems written in the past, and was basically a national slogan proclaiming ones loyalty to the emperor. The poet was obviously expressing his desire to be a part of tradition. A halberd is sort of a spear combined with a battle axe. Toko (1795) Jisei to wa sunawachi mayoi tada shinan Death poems are mere delusion- death is death. Minamoto no Yoshiie / Abe Sadato (1057) The following is a renga (linked poem) composed by the samurai above. Yoshiie composed the first part which was followed by Sadato. In the first part there is an interesting play on words which allowed Sadato to compose such a wonderful closer. This poem was supposedly composed amidst the chaos of a raging battle. They were the generals in command of the armies opposing each other. While their troops were locked in combat...they were said to have met in the middle of the battle field and had this duel with words. Koromo no tate wa hokorobinikeri Koromo Castle has been destroyed or (the warps of your robe have come undone) toshi o heshi ito no midare no kurushisa ni over the years its threads became tangled, and this pains me Kusunoki Masatsura (sent in by M. Drollinger) The story behind this poem begins like this. The samurai Kusunoki Masatsura had been commissioned by the Emperor to go into battle, the Emperor telling Kusunoki that he was trusted as his own elbows and thighs. Kusunoki was greatly moved by this and went with his troops to worship at the tomb of Go-Daigo. Here Kusunoki wrote a farewell poem on the temple door with an arrowhead. I could not return, I presume, So I will keep my name Among those who are dead with bows. Shortly after writing this poem, Kusunoki was killed in battle in the fateful last stand of his clan. The door, still bearing the poem, is preserved to this day at the Nyoirin-Ji temple. Nogi Maresuke The next two poems were written during the Russo-Japanese war in 1904. The first one written near the beginning of the campaign, and the next on his way home with his troops. Nogi Maresuke was the commanding General. Mountain and river, grass and tree, grow more barren; for ten miles winds smell of blood in the fresh battlefield. Conquering horses do not advance nor do men talk; outside Jinzhou Castle, I stand in the setting sun. Emperor's army, a million, conquered the powerful foe; field battles and fort assaults made mountains of corpses. Ashamed - how can I face there fathers, grandfathers? We triumph today? |
 |
 |
 |
|