[Many thanks to えんかいくん零式 for posting this info on the Next Game Square's Sakura Message Board!]
Female writer and poet Yosano Akiko (1878-1942) wrote this poem in the midst of the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905). It was meant as a poem to express Akiko's wish for her brother Soshichi's safe return. (Soshichi is a soldier among the army unit sent to capture Port Arthur, in north-eastern China). Due to the fact that Yosano seemed to care more about her brother's safe return than Japan's victory in the war, her poem was much criticized at the time. But being the progressive writer that she was, Yosano stood her ground in the face of criticism.
君死にたまふことなかれ
（旅順の攻囲軍にある
弟宗七を歎きて）
ああ、弟よ、君を泣く、
君死にたまふことなかれ。
末に生まれし君なれば
親のなさけは勝りしも、
親は刃をにぎらせて
人を殺せと教へしや、
人を殺して死ねよとて
廿四までを育てしや。
堺の街のあきびとの
老舗を誇るあるじにて、
親の名を継ぐ君なれば、
君死にたまふことなかれ。
旅順の城はほろぶとも、
ほろびずとても、何事ぞ、
君は知らじな、あきびとの
家の習いに無きことを。
君死にたまふことなかれ。
すめらみことは、戦ひに
おほみづからは出でまさね、
互に人の血を流し、
獣の道に死ねよとは、
死ぬるを人の誉れとは、
おほみこころの深ければ
もとより如何で思されん。
ああ、弟よ、戦ひに
君死にたまふことなかれ。
過ぎにし秋を父君に
おくれたまへる母君は、
歎きのなかに、いたましく、
我子を召され、家を守り、
安しと聞ける大御代も
母の白髪は増さりゆく。
暖簾のかげに伏して泣く
あえかに若き新妻を
君忘るるや、思へるや。
十月も添はで別れたる
少女ごごろを思ひみよ。
この世でひとりの君ならで
ああまた誰を頼むべき。
君死にたまふことなかれ。
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You Shall Not Be Killed, Brother!
(Lamenting my younger brother Soshichi
in the besieging army at Port Arthur)
O my dear brother, I am in tears for you:
you should not be killed.
You were the last-born,
most adored by your parents.
Did your parents teach you to wield the sword to
murder other people?
Did your parents raise you
for twenty-four years
to kill and to die?
Since you inherit your parents'name
as proud master of our renowned shop
in Sakaishi,
you should not be killed.
Even if Port Arthur's castle falls,
so what?
You are not aware that killing is not in harmony
with the customs of a merchant family.
You should not be killed.
The Honorable Emperor would not personally
engage in the war.
Since the Emperor's heart is so merciful,
how could he possibly ask
others to shed blood
and die like beasts
and believe that dying is honor?
O my brother,
you should not be killed in battle!
It's said this era is peaceful,
but our mother protects the family
in great sorrow from the death of our father
and now, pained
by her child's conscription,
her hair grows ever whiter.
Have you forgotten your new young wife
lying delicate and beautiful in tears behind her
curtain?
Do you still think of her?
Separated after barely ten months wedded,
think of her virginal heart.
Since you are the only you in world,
whom can she rely on?
You should not be killed, My brother!
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