Death Poems

Farewell poems to life | Tweets by @ivorinfo

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

‘Jisei no ku’ (Death poems) are Japanese poems written by those on their death bed. They are ‘farewell poems to life’ written in kanshi, waka, and haiku. At their best they are reflections on the acceptance of life on life’s terms and inevitability of death.

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

Moon in the water
Somersaults
and streams away.

— Oshima Ryota

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

Autumn wind:
the mountain's shadow
quivering.

— Kobayashi Issa

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

The springtime sun
sets, treading
on a mountain pheasants tail.

— Yosa Buson

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

These days
my inmost thoughts recall
an autumn sunset
when the deer's call
echoes over fields.

— Yoshitsune

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

Here in the shadow of death it is hard
To utter the final word.
I'll only say, then,
"Without saying."
Nothing more,
Nothing more.

— Dokyo Etan

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

My whole life long I've sharpened my sword
And now, face to face with death
I unsheathe it, and lo–
The blade is broken–
Alas!

— Dairin Soto

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

My old body:
A drop of dew green
heavy at the leaf tip

— Kiba

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

Since I was born
I have to die,
And so…

— Kisei

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

Man’s end,
A mound of gleaming bones;
A flowering and a fading

— Hamei

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

The years have piled up
snow on withered fields
along my path.

— Sugetsu

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

A small night storm blows
Saying ‘falling is the essence of a flower’
Preceding those who hesitate

— Yukio Mishima

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

The earth is fragrant
With plum petals falling
On my way home.

— Fuwa

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

@Stephthepsych Will try and find some recordings/recitals!

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

‘Jisei no ku’ (Death poems) are Japanese poems written by those on their death bed. They are ‘farewell poems to life’ written in kanshi, waka, and haiku. At their best they are reflections on the acceptance of life on life’s terms and inevitability of death.

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

Bury me when I die
Beneath a wine barrel
In a tavern.
With luck
The cask will leak

— Moriya Sen’an

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

Now it reveals its hidden side
and now the other—thus it falls,
an autumn leaf.

—Ryōkan

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

Frost on a summer day:
all I leave behind is water
that has washed my brush.

— Shutei

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

A dewdrop fell
And a dewdrop vanished
That is me
Also Osaka is
A dream within a dream.

— Toyotomi Hideyoshi

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

It’s miserable
To imagine that
My remains will be cremated
And become
A light green smoke at last.

— Ono no Komachi

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

Who will live long
And read the writings
Of the dying one
Although that is
An indelible relic.

— Murasaki Shikibu

[Death Poems @DeathPoems_]

Bitter winds of winter
but later, river willow,
open up your buds.

— Senryu, 1790