Read, reflect, pray
Prayer to Ebisu
惠美須神祝詞
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
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.
掛卷も畏き都味齒八重事代主命の廣前に白さく
kakemakumo kashikoki tsumihayae kotoshironushinomikotono hiromaheni mausaku
皇親神漏岐神漏美の命以て皇御孫の尊の豊葦原の水穗の國を安國と所知食んと神問しに問し給ふ時
sumemutsu kamirogi kamiromino mikoto motsute sumemimano mikotono toyoashiharano mizuhono kuniwo yasukunito shiroshimesanto kamutohashini tohashi tamafu toki
大神は出雲國三穗之崎に遊行座鳥遊魚取を樂座て葦原の中國を立處に皇御孫尊に奉らせ給へと申し給ひて
ohomikamiha izumonokuni mihonosakini arukimashi togari iwotoriwo tanoshimashite ashiharano nakakuniwo tachidokoroni sumemimanomikotoni tatematsurase tamaheto maushi tamahite
海中に八重蒼柴垣を造り船の枻を蹈みて避給き
uminakani yaheawofushigakiwo tsukuri funeno hewo fumite saritamahiki
如此避給ふは親に孝君に忠なる道を吳竹の世々に垂給へる廣く厚き神德なるが故に
kaku saritamafuha oyani shitagahi kimini mamenaru michiwo kuretakeno yoyoni taretamaheru hiroku atsuki miikihohinaruga yuweni
今も仰ぎ尊み奉りて貴きも賤しきも家内の神齋御棚に齋鎮奉れり
imamo afugi tafutomi matsurite takakimo iyashikimo yauchino kamiitsukimitanani itsukushime matsureri
又十月二十日には世の言草に惠美須祭と稱へ奉りて市人の家々に祭れる由は
mata jiuguwatsuhatsukaniha yono kotogusani wemisumatsurito tatahe matsurite ichibitono iheiheni matsureru yoshiha
食國の御法を天下の公民の過犯事無く明き淨き直き眞心以て家を治業を勤むる事を緩怠事無く
osukunino minoriwo amegashitano ohomitakarano ayamachiokasukoto naku akaki kiyoki nahoki magokoro motsute ihewo wosame wazawo tsutomuru kotowo tayumukoto naku
穆の木の彌嗣々に萬代まで玉葛絶事無く平けく安らけく富榮へ仕奉給へと言壽て
togano kino iyatsugitsugini yorozuyomade tamakazura tayurukoto naku tahirakeku yasurakeku tomisakahe tsukamatsurashime tamaheto kotohogite
由貴の御饌由貴の御酒を如海山置足成て今日の朝日の豐榮登に稱辭竟奉ると恐み恐みも申す
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.