also: くじ
past events; bygones
Refers to things that happened in the past, often with a nuance of being over and done with. Can be used in expressions like 旧事を忘れる (forget the past).
There's no point in brooding over past events forever.
He let bygones be bygones and started a new life.
He put the past behind him and started a new life.
The old man kept telling stories of past events from his youth.
Looking at this photo brings back memories of the past.
往事 and 旧事 both mean 'bygone events', but 往事 is even more literary and rarely used in modern speech.
旧事 (past events) and 旧字 (old-style kanji forms) are pronounced identically as きゅうじ but refer to completely different things.
Standard kanji spelling for this word.
Alternate reading, less common than きゅうじ.
Compound of 旧 (old, former) and 事 (matter, thing). The reading きゅうじ is the standard on'yomi, while くじ is a less common variant reading.