The word 往事 is formed by combining two characters: 往, which conveys the idea of "going toward" or "past", and 事, which means "event" or "matter". Together, they create a conceptual image of events that one looks back toward or that have gone into the past. It poetically frames the past not as a static time, but as a landscape of happenings that we mentally journey back to, visualizing former experiences as matters that have receded in time's flow.