Explore each form from the oldest known stage to today.
The character 逝 is composed of 辶 (the 'movement' radical) and 折 ('to break' or 'to bend'). In ancient Chinese, it originally meant 'to go,' 'to depart,' or 'to pass away,' evolving to convey the passage of time or death—as in 逝去 (to pass away) or 流逝 (to flow away). The Liushutong form L19688 shows an early seal script variant where the structure is less standardized, with 折's hand (扌) and axe (斤) components more pictorially distinct, and the 辶 radical drawn with a sweeping curve. Over time, the character simplified into its modern kanji form, retaining the idea of 'moving away' both physically and temporally. Arrived in Japan: The character likely arrived in Japan by the early 5th century CE, during the period when Chinese writing was systematically imported through Korean scholars and Buddhist texts. It appears in early Japanese works such as the 8th-century Man'yōshū poetry anthology, used in compounds like 逝く (iku, 'to go') to express departure or passing.