遡る · godan verb (-ru)
| Form | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Dictionary | 遡る | 遡らない |
| Polite | 遡ります | 遡りません |
| Past polite | 遡りました | 遡りませんでした |
| Past | 遡った | 遡らなかった |
| Te-form | 遡って | 遡らないで |
| Desire | 遡りたい | 遡りたくない |
| Potential | 遡れる | 遡れない |
| Passive | 遡られる | 遡られない |
| Causative | 遡らせる | 遡らせない |
| Causative passive | 遡らせられるalso 遡らされる | 遡らせられないalso 遡らされない |
| Volitional | 遡ろう | |
| Polite volitional | 遡りましょう | |
| Imperative | 遡れ | 遡るな |
| Conditional | 遡れば | 遡らなければ |
| Tara conditional | 遡ったら | 遡らなかったら |
godan verb (-ru), intransitive verb
go upstream; go up a river
Physical movement against the current of a river or stream.
Salmon go up the river to spawn.
We went up the river in a small boat.
godan verb (-ru), intransitive verb
go back in time; date back to; trace back to; be retroactive
Used for tracing origins, history, or making something effective from an earlier date. Often used with ～に or ～まで.
The history of this temple dates back to the Heian period.
We trace back the cause of the problem to investigate.
The new rule will be applied retroactively to last month.
Salmon swim upstream toward their spawning grounds.
The origin of this festival dates back to the Edo period.
The investigation was carried out going back as far as ten years ago.
As I traced my memory back, the events of that day came flooding back.
下る means to go downstream or down a slope, the opposite direction from 遡る's upstream or backward-in-time movement.
逆らう means to defy or resist (e.g. a current, an order), whereas 遡る simply describes moving against a current or back through time without implying defiance.
Rarely used kanji form; very uncommon.
Rarely used kanji form; may be encountered in older texts.