Read, reflect, pray

Amatsu norito

天津祝詞あまつのりと

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, sound explanations and source text

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English meaning and sound explanations

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.

To the deities dwelling as deities in Takamagahara:

by the command of Kamurogi and Kamuromi,

the ancestral deity Izanagi no Mikoto

performed purification at Awagihara, by Odo in Tachibana, Himuka of Tsukushi.

I address the great purification deities who came into being at that time.

Please purify and cleanse every calamity, offence, and impurity.

May the heavenly and earthly deities, together with the countless deities,

listen attentively to this prayer, like a heavenly dappled horse pricking up its ears. With reverence I speak.

Sound explanation

The text recites ‘吐音加身惠身多女’ and asks, ‘Please purify and cleanse us.’

The opening is a sound-recited purification formula. Since this edition alone does not establish each sound’s meaning, it is distinguished from the following request.

Source text and reading aid

Roman letters are provided for 7 of 9 lines. Readings not fully supplied in the source are left without Roman letters.

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.

高天（たかま）の原（はら）に神留坐（かみとゞまりま）す。

神魯岐（かむろぎ）神魯美（かむろみ）の命（みこと）を以（もち）て。

kamurogi kamuromino mikotowo mochite.

皇御祖神（すめみをやかむ）伊邪那岐（いざなぎ）の命（みこと）。

sumemiwoyakamu izanagino mikoto.

筑紫（つくし）の日向（ひむか）の橘（たちばな）の。小戸（をと）の阿波岐原（あはぎはら）に。

tsukushino himukano tachibanano. wotono ahagiharani.

御禊祓（みそぎはら）ひ給（たま）ふ。時（とき）に生坐（あれませ）る祓戸（はらひど）の大神等（おほかみたち）。

misogiharahi tamafu. tokini aremaseru harahidono ohokamitachi.

諸（もろ〲）の枉事（まがこと）罪穢（つみけがれ）を祓（はら）ひ賜（たま）へ清（きよ）め賜（たま）へと。

moro〲no magakoto tsumikegarewo harahi tamahe kiyome tamaheto.

申（まう）す事（こと）の由（よし）を天（あま）つ神（かみ）國（くに）つ神（かみ）八百萬（やほよろづ）の神等（かみたち）共（とも）に。

mausu kotono yoshiwo amatsu kami kunitsu kami yahoyorozuno kamitachi tomoni.

天（あま）の斑馬（ぶちごま）の耳（みゝ）振立（ふりたて）て聞食（きこしめ）せと。恐（かしこ）みも白（まう）す

吐音加身惠身多女（とをかみゑみため）。祓（はら）ひ賜（たま）へ清（きよ）め賜（たま）へ

towokamiwemitame. harahi tamahe kiyome tamahe

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)

国立国会図書館／神誠館ほか — 神道太祓大全：神拝祝詞（1911年）第47項『天津祝詞』

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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