Inori no Mori祈りの杜working title

Read, reflect, pray

Prayer to Ebisu

惠美須神祝詞ゑみすじんののりと

A text in the 1911 Shintō Ōharai Zenshū anthology. It is presented as a historical reading, not the current ritual of every shrine or temple.

English meaning and source text

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English meaning

About this English rendering

This site’s English rendering of the Japanese meaning guide, aligned with this edition. It is separate from the source words for recitation and is not an official liturgy. Sacred sounds are explained where possible, not given speculative literal translations. Historical beliefs, royal authority, illness and protection claims belong to the text; they are not present-day judgments, medical advice or guarantees of results.

Before Tsumihayae Kotoshironushi no Mikoto, whose name we speak with awe, we offer these words.

By command of Kamurogi and Kamuromi, the imperial ancestral kami, when the kami asked about transferring the fertile reed-plain land so the heavenly descendant might govern it peacefully,

you were at Miho-no-Saki in Izumo, enjoying the catching of birds and fish. You said, ‘Offer the Central Land of Reed Plains to the heavenly descendant at once.’

You made many layers of green brushwood fence in the sea, stepped upon the edge of your boat and withdrew.

In withdrawing thus, your broad and abundant virtue transmitted filial piety and loyalty to the ruler through the generations, like the successive joints of bamboo.

Therefore people honor you still, high and low alike worshiping you at their household altars.

Merchants’ households also worship on the twentieth day of the tenth month, calling it the Ebisu Festival.

They pray that people may obey the country’s laws, govern their homes with bright, pure and sincere hearts, and not neglect their work,

serving you in lasting peace and prosperity, like trees growing one after another and vines extending without end.

Setting out pure food and sake abundantly like sea and mountain, we praise you as today’s morning sun rises brightly.

Source text and reading aid

Roman letters are provided for every line of this source text.

How to use the Roman letters

Roman letters follow the kana displayed in this site’s Japanese reader; some readings are editorial additions documented on the Japanese page. These are a reading aid, not restored Sanskrit or a recording of a temple’s chanting. Historical spellings (such as wo, wi, we and ha used as a particle) are kept. Double vowels and repeated vowels mark the written kana; rhythm and pronunciation can differ by tradition.

You can simply read the meaning or sit quietly. No recitation is required. For a temple or shrine’s own recitation, follow that tradition’s published guidance.

掛卷(かけまく)も畏(かしこ)き都味齒八重(つみはやえ)事代主命(ことしろぬしのみこと)の廣前(ひろまへ)に白(まう)さく

kakemakumo kashikoki tsumihayae kotoshironushinomikotono hiromaheni mausaku

皇親(すめむつ)神漏岐(かみろぎ)神漏美(かみろみ)の命(みこと)以(もつ)て皇御孫(すめみま)の尊(みこと)の豊葦原(とよあしはら)の水穗(みづほ)の國(くに)を安國(やすくに)と所知食(しろしめさ)んと神問(かむとは)しに問(とは)し給(たま)ふ時(とき)

sumemutsu kamirogi kamiromino mikoto motsute sumemimano mikotono toyoashiharano mizuhono kuniwo yasukunito shiroshimesanto kamutohashini tohashi tamafu toki

大神(おほみかみ)は出雲國(いづものくに)三穗之崎(みほのさき)に遊行座(あるきまし)鳥遊(とがり)魚取(いをとり)を樂座(たのしまし)て葦原(あしはら)の中國(なかくに)を立處(たちどころ)に皇御孫尊(すめみまのみこと)に奉(たてまつ)らせ給(たま)へと申(まう)し給(たま)ひて

ohomikamiha izumonokuni mihonosakini arukimashi togari iwotoriwo tanoshimashite ashiharano nakakuniwo tachidokoroni sumemimanomikotoni tatematsurase tamaheto maushi tamahite

海中(うみなか)に八重蒼柴垣(やへあをふしがき)を造(つく)り船(ふね)の枻(へ)を蹈(ふ)みて避給(さりたまひ)き

uminakani yaheawofushigakiwo tsukuri funeno hewo fumite saritamahiki

如此(かく)避給(さりたま)ふは親(おや)に孝(したがひ)君(きみ)に忠(まめ)なる道(みち)を吳竹(くれたけ)の世々(よよ)に垂給(たれたま)へる廣(ひろ)く厚(あつ)き神德(みいきほひ)なるが故(ゆゑ)に

kaku saritamafuha oyani shitagahi kimini mamenaru michiwo kuretakeno yoyoni taretamaheru hiroku atsuki miikihohinaruga yuweni

今(いま)も仰(あふ)ぎ尊(たふと)み奉(まつ)りて貴(たか)きも賤(いや)しきも家内(やうち)の神齋御棚(かみいつきみたな)に齋鎮(いつくしめ)奉(まつ)れり

imamo afugi tafutomi matsurite takakimo iyashikimo yauchino kamiitsukimitanani itsukushime matsureri

又(また)十月二十日(じうぐわつはつか)には世(よ)の言草(ことぐさ)に惠美須祭(ゑみすまつり)と稱(たた)へ奉(まつ)りて市人(いちびと)の家々(いへいへ)に祭(まつ)れる由(よし)は

mata jiuguwatsuhatsukaniha yono kotogusani wemisumatsurito tatahe matsurite ichibitono iheiheni matsureru yoshiha

食國(おすくに)の御法(みのり)を天下(あめがした)の公民(おほみたから)の過犯事(あやまちおかすこと)無(な)く明(あか)き淨(きよ)き直(なほ)き眞心(まごころ)以(もつ)て家(いへ)を治(をさめ)業(わざ)を勤(つと)むる事(こと)を緩怠事(たゆむこと)無(な)く

osukunino minoriwo amegashitano ohomitakarano ayamachiokasukoto naku akaki kiyoki nahoki magokoro motsute ihewo wosame wazawo tsutomuru kotowo tayumukoto naku

穆(とが)の木(き)の彌嗣々(いやつぎつぎ)に萬代(よろづよ)まで玉葛(たまかづら)絶事(たゆること)無(な)く平(たひら)けく安(やす)らけく富榮(とみさか)へ仕奉(つかまつらしめ)給(たま)へと言壽(ことほぎ)て

togano kino iyatsugitsugini yorozuyomade tamakazura tayurukoto naku tahirakeku yasurakeku tomisakahe tsukamatsurashime tamaheto kotohogite

由貴(ゆき)の御饌(みけ)由貴(ゆき)の御酒(みき)を如海山(うみやまなす)置足成(おきたりなし)て今日(けふ)の朝日(あさひ)の豐榮登(とよさかのぼり)に稱辭竟奉(たたへごとをへまつ)ると恐(おそれ)み恐(おそれ)みも申(まう)す

yukino mike yukino mikiwo umiyamanasu okitarinashite kefuno asahino toyosakanoborini tatahegotowohematsuruto osoremi osoremimo mausu

Connected kami and buddhas

These connections include figures addressed, mentioned, or associated by tradition. They do not assign a universal recitation practice.

Sources and edition (1)

English explanations on this page were prepared by Inori no Mori from the cited text and its Japanese explanations. They are not an official translation or a prescribed liturgy.

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