pronoun
First-person pronoun used mainly by elderly men, often in casual or dialectal speech. Carries a folksy, old-fashioned, or regional feel.
わしはもう年じゃから、そんなに歩けん。
I'm old, so I can't walk that much.
わしの若い頃は、そんなものはなかった。
When I was young, there was no such thing.
Ateji-like kanji form; rarely used and easily confused with わたし.
Derived from 私 (わたし) through sound change. The exact historical development is uncertain, but it has been used as a first-person pronoun since at least the Edo period.