In Japan, there was a custom of leaving a poetic short sentence on a deathbed, “Jisei no ku (death poem). It is often the one that emphasizes the phonology such as Tanka, haiku and Chinese poetry. It is considered to be an East Asian custom, especially in Japan since the Middle Ages. Not only poets but also cultural people and samurai warriors composed the death poems when they were dying.

I would like to introduce death poems by famous Japanese people.