Even a life-long prosperity is but one cup of sake;
A life of forty-nine years is passed in a dream;
I know not what life is, nor death.
Year in year out-all but a dream.
Both Heaven and Hell are left behind;
I stand in the moonlit dawn,
Free from clouds of attachment.

Uesugi Kenshin
1530-1578

Source

This poem comes from the Samurai Archives.

More Japanese Death Poems

Interested in Japanese death poems? Check out Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death.

Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death

Tuttle Publishing

Like a rotten log
half buried in the ground –
my life, which
has not flowered, comes
to this sad end.

Minamoto Yorimasa
1104-1180

Source

This translation comes from Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death.

Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death

Tuttle Publishing

Had I not known
that I was dead
already
I would have mourned
my loss of life.

Ota Dokan
1432-1486

Source

This translation comes from Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death.

Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death

Tuttle Publishing

Whether one passes on or remains is all the same.
That you can take no one with you is the only difference.
Ah, how pleasant! Two awakenings and one sleep.
This dream of a fleeing world! The roseate hues of early dawn!

Tokugawa Ieyasu
1542-1616

Source

This poem comes from the Samurai Archives.

More Death Poems

Interested in Japanese death poems? You can find more in Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death.

Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death

Tuttle Publishing