Discussion 3 Japan
Early Shinto 31
SHINTO PRAYERS (NORITO)
The norito are prayers or mantras uttered on ritual occasions or festivals. Those presented here are mostly preserved in the Engi-shiki of 927 C.E., a compilation
· of the Heian court that reflects the codification of Shinto practice in relation to the unification and bureaucratization of the state but that also records many aspects of Japanese religion long antedating the process of state building.
Most of the norito thus preserved are highly formulaic, ritualized, and re petitive. Typically they consist of an invocation of a god or gods; a recollection of the founding of the shrine, which is the site of the ceremony; an identification of the recitant and his status; a list of offerings; a petition for certain benefits or blessings; a promise of recompense to be made in return; and a final salutation. Along with this generalized formality, there is great specificity in regard to particular deities, places, and details of local history and myth. Here, however, the main focus is on the imperial house and its Grand Shrine at Ise.
NORITO FOR THE FESTIVAL OF THE SIXTH MONTH
This prayer was offered in the sixth month by a priest of the Nakatomi clan to pray for the well-being of the emperor and imperial house. It is similar to one offered at Ise for the success of the grain-growing season. Although much of it is addressed to the Sovereign Deities in general, the following excerpts focus on a prayer to Amaterasu on behalf of the reigning emperor, spoken of here as the Sovereign Grandchild.
4-2. This is a stock epithet (makura kotoba) for this province.
43. Abstinence Palace or Worship Palace: "On the accession of an Emperor, an unmarried
Princess of the Imperial Hous·e was selected for the service of the Shrine of lse, or if there was no such unmarried Princess, then another Princess was fixed upon by divination and appointed worship-princess. The Worship-Palace was for her residence" (Aston, Nihongi, I, p. 176).
Wm. Theodore de Bary et al., ed., Sources of Japanese Tradition, 2nd ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001)
32 EARLY JAPAN Hear me, all of you assembled priests (kamu-nusi) and exorcists (·hafuri). Thus I speak.
I humbly speak before you, The Sovereign Deities whose praises are fulfilled as
Heavenly Shrines and Earthly Shrines By the command of the Sovereign Ancestral Gods and Goddesses
Who divinely remain in the High Heavenly Plain ....
I humbly speak with special words in the solemn presence Of the deity Ama-terasu-oho-mi-kami,
Who dwells at Ise: The lands of the four quarters, upon which you gaze out,
As far as the heavens stand as partitions, As far as the land extends in the distance, As far as the bluish clouds trail across the sky, As far as the white clouds hang down on the horizon:
On the blue ocean ---As faras-the prows of the ships can reach,
Without stopping to dry their oars, On the great ocean the ships teem continuously;
On the roads by land .. As far as th�-h�rs�S' hooves can penetrate, The ropes of the [tribute] packages tightly tied, Treading over the rocks and roots of trees, They move over the long roads without pause, continuously;
The narrow land is made wide, The steep land is made level;
And you entrust the distant lands [to the Sovereign Grandchild] As if casting myriad ropes about them and drawing them hither.
[If you vouchsafe to do ,'.YLt.l!isj, then in your presenceThe first fruits of th{tri�ute �ill be piled up Like a long mountain range, And of the rest (the Sovereign Grandchild] will partake tranquilly.
Also because you bless the reign of the Sovereign Grandchild
As a long reign, eternal and unmoving, And prosper it as an abundant reign, As my Sovereign Ancestral Gods and Goddesses, Like a cormorant bending my neck low, I present to you the noble offerings of the Sovereign Grandchild And fulfill your praises. Thus I speak.
[Adapted from Philippi, Norito, pp. 36-39]
Early Shinto 33
THE BLESSING OF THE GREAT PALACE
This prayer, invoking the gods' protection of the Imperial Palace, was recited by a member of the lmibe (lmbe) clan, professional abstainers whose role thus is connected with purification rituals. Note that in the absence of i supreme god, by certifying the
rule of the imperial line, this polytheistic pantheon acts "in council," that is, by consensus.
The Sovereign Ancestral Gods and Goddesses, Who divinely remain in the High Heavenly Plain, Commanded the Sovereign Grandchild to occupy the heavenly high seat, And presenting unto him the mirror and sword, the heavenly signs [ of the imperial succession], Said in blessing:
"Our sovereign noble child, oh Sovereign Grandchild, "Occupying this heavenly high seat, "[Retain] the heavenly sun-lineage for myriads of thousands of ]�mg autumns, "And rule tranquilly the Great Eight-Island Land of the Plentiful
Reed Plains and of the Fresh Ears of Grain as a peaceful land." Thus entrusting the land to him,
By means of a heavenly council, They silenced to the last leaf
The rocks and the stumps of the trees. Which had been able to speak,
And [ caused him to] descend from the heavens To reign over this kingdom
[As] the Sovereign Grandchild ruling the heavenly sun-lineage .... Because you protect the reign of the Sovereign Grandchild as eternal and
unmoving, And prosper it as an abundant reign, an overflowing reign, a long reign;
Therefore, onto the long strings of myriad mi-fuki noble beads, Which have been purified and sanctified by the sacred bead-makers, Have been attached colored cloth, radiant cloth;
And I, Imibe-no-sukune So-and-so, hanging a thick sash over my weak shoulders, Bless and pacify-
Grant that any error or omission in this May be heard rectified and beheld rectified
By [the rectifying deities] Kamu-naho-bi-no-mikoto and Oho-naho-bi-no-rnikoto,
34 EARLY JAPAN And that they may hear and receive it tranquilly and peacefully.
Thus I humbly speak. [Philippi, Norito, pp. 41-43]
THE GREAT EXORCISM OF THE LAST DAY OF THE SIXTH MONTH
This norito is of special interest because it details the sins to be exorcised, some of them in the nature of moral faults but others simply baneful occurrences- misfortunes or things that have just gone wrong and need to be remedied. Notice again that the gods act in concert; also notice the means of purification that they use: washing away, blowing away, and "losing" them (keeping away).
By the command of the Sovereign Ancestral Gods and Goddesses, Who divinely remain in the High Heavenly Plain,
The eight myriad deities were convoked in a divine convocation. Consulted in a divine consultation, And spoke these words of entrusting:
"Our Sovereign Grandchild is to rule "The Land of the Plentiful Reed Plains of the Fresh Ears of Grain "Tranquilly as a peaceful land."
Having thus entrusted the land, They inquired with a divine inquiry Of the unruly deities in the land, And expelled them with a divine expulsion ....
The lands of the four quarters thus entrusted, Great Yamato, the Land of the Sun-Seen-on-High, Was pacified and made a peaceful land;
The palace posts were firmly planted in the bed-rock below, The cross-beams soaring high towards the High Heavenly plain, And the noble palace of the Sovereign Grandchild constructed,
Where, as a heavenly shelter, as a sun-shelter, he dwells hidden,
And rules [the kingdom] tranquilly as a peaceful land.
The various sins perpetrated and committed By the heavenly ever-increasing people to come into existence In thi�_!@n1 which he is to rule tranquilly as a peaceful land.
First, th\:. heav;;iy si,';§:'', Breaki�g do\1/n th� ridges, Covering up the ditches, Releasing the irrigation sluices, Double planting,
Setting up stakes,
Skinning alive, skinning backwards, Defecation-
35
Many sins [ such as these] are distinguished and called the heavenly sins. The::.eiir_thly_sins:'
Cutting living flesh, cutting dead flesh, White leprosy, skin excrescences, The sin of violating one's own mother, The sin of violating one's own child, The sin of violating a mother and her child, The sin of violating a child and her mother, The sin of transgression with animals, Woes from creeping insects, Woes from the deities on high, Woes from the birds on high, Killing animals, the sin of witchcrnft Many sins [ such as these] shall appear.
When they thus appear, By the heavenly shrine usage ....
Pronounce the heavenly ritual, the solemn ritual words. When he thus pronounces them .... the heavenly deities
Will hear and receive [these words].
When they thus hear and receive, Then, beginning with the court of the Sovereign Grandchild,
In the lands of the four quarters under the heavens, Each and every sin will be gone.
Adl1e-giisty wfoa 5Towfapin'ithe myriad layers of heavenly clouds; As the morning mist, the evening mist is blown away by the
morning wind, the evening wind; .... As a result of the exorcism a_n_d the purification,
There will be no sin;-l;ft. They will be taken into the great ocean
By the goddess called Se-ori-tsu-hime, Who dwells in the rapids of the rapid-running rivers
Which fall surging perpendicular From the summits of the high mountains and the summits of the
low mountains. When she thus takes them,
They will be swallowed with a gulp By the goddess called Haya-aki-tsu-hime ....
When she thus swallows them with a gulp, The deity called Ibuki-do-nushi,
EARLY JAPAN
Who dwells in the Ibuki-do,44
Will blow them away with his breath to the land of Hades, the under-world.
When she thus loses them, Beginning with the many officials serving in the Emperor's court, In the four quarters under the heavens, Beginning from today, Each and every sin will be gone.
[Philippi, Norito, pp. 45-48]
44. Literally, "breath-blowing entrance."