Inori no Mori祈りの杜working title

Read, reflect, pray

Prayer for the Year’s Harvest (1897)

祈年祭きねんさい

A Meiji-era model addressed to Amaterasu, Toyoukehime, Ōtoshi, Mitoshi and a local deity. The catalogue calls it a New Year rite, while the printed heading identifies the harvest-year rite.

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.

An independent rendering of this historical model. Its period institutions and ritual details are not a universal present-day prescription.

Before Amaterasu, Toyoukehime, the great deities Ōtoshi and Mitoshi, and the deity presiding over this village, whose names we utter with reverence, we respectfully speak. “Such-and-such great deity” is the original book’s space for the local deity’s name.

It recalls Amaterasu in heaven declaring that rice seed would sustain the people of the visible world, blessing the rice ears of the sacred field and bestowing them on the heavenly descendant, a tradition said to remain unchanged from the age of the kami.

Because the court begins the harvest-year rite on the fourth day of the second month each year, this text likewise appoints today as an auspicious day for worship before these kami. That date belongs to this Meiji-era model prayer.

Sacred sake is filled high in jars, peace is sought for the imperial reign, and food from sea, field and mountain fills the offering tables. The prayer asks the kami to receive these offerings peacefully and graciously.

It asks that the late rice grown by people with water splashing their arms and mud gathering on their thighs may ripen into long, luxuriant ears.

If the crop prospers, its first ears, hanging and gathered rice offerings, brewed and white sake, rice liquid and grain will be presented at the autumn festival. Together with the village elders, the worshippers bow low and move humbly like ducks, concluding their reverent praise.

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.

祈年祭の文例(きねんさいのぶんれい)

掛(か)けまくも畏(かしこ)き天照大御神(あまてらすおおみかみ)豊受比売(とようけひめ)の大神(おおかみ)大年(おおとし)御年大神(みとしのおおかみ)此郷(このさと)を領坐(うしはきま)す何大神(なにのおおかみ)の大前(おおまえ)を慎(つつし)み敬(うやま)い畏(かしこ)み畏(かしこ)みも白(もう)さく。

kakemakumo kashikoki amaterasuoomikami toyoukehimeno ookami ootoshi mitoshinoookami konosatowo ushihakimasu naninoookamino oomaewo tsutsushimi uyamai kashikomi kashikomimo mousaku.

天在哉(あめなるや)天照大御神(あまてらすおおみかみ)の此稲種(このいなたね)は顕見(うつしき)青人草(あおひとくさ)の喫(くら)いて活(い)くべき物(もの)との宣言為給(のりごちたま)いし故以(ゆえもち)て斎庭(ゆにわ)の穂(いなほ)を言祝(ことほ)ぎて皇孫命(すめみまのみこと)に授(さづ)け給(たま)いしに随(したが)いて神代(かみよ)も今(いま)も変(かわ)る事(こと)無(な)く。

amenaruya amaterasuoomikamino konoinataneha utsushiki aohitokusano kuraite ikubeki monotono norigochitamaishi yuemochite yuniwano inahowo kotohogite sumemimanomikotoni sazuke tamaishini shitagaite kamiyomo imamo kawaru koto naku.

毎年(としの)二月(きさらづき)四日(よかのひ)大朝廷(おおみかど)に御年(みとし)初(はじ)め給(たま)えるが故(ゆえ)に此(こ)の御前(みまえ)にも今日生日(きょういくひ)の足日(たるひ)の祝定(いわいさだ)めて。

toshino kisarazuki yokanohi oomikadoni mitoshi hajime tamaeruga yueni kono mimaenimo kyouikuhino taruhino iwaisadamete.

莫留(もちた)る大御酒(おおみき)は甕(みか)の上高知(うえたかし)り大御代(おおみよ)は平(たいら)けく安(やす)けく御饌(みけ)は海物(うみのもの)野物(ぬのもの)山物(やまのもの)を机(つくえ)も登(と)ををに仕奉(つかえまつ)らくを平(たいら)けく安(やす)けく聞食(きこしめ)し。

mochitaru oomikiha mikano uetakashiri oomiyoha tairakeku yasukeku mikeha uminomono nunomono yamanomonowo tsukuemo towowoni tsukaematsurakuwo tairakeku yasukeku kikoshimeshi.

百姓(おおみたから)が手肱(たなひじ)に水沫播(みなわか)き向股(むかもも)に泥播寄(ひじかきよ)せて取作(つく)れる奥津御年(おきつみとし)は八束穂(やつかほ)の茂穂(いかしほ)に成(な)し幸(さきわ)え給(たま)わば。

oomitakaraga tanahijini minawakaki mukamomoni hijikakiyosete tsukureru okitsumitoshiha yatsukahono ikashihoni nashi sakiwae tamawaba.

荷前(のさき)をば懸税(かけぢから)税(ちから)甕酒(みき)白酒(しろき)の汁(しる)にも頴(かい)にも秋祭(あきまつり)に献(たてまつ)ると里(さと)の刀祢等(とねら)と諸共(もろとも)に鴨(かも)の成伊這回(なすいはいもとお)り恐(かしこ)み恐(かしこ)みも称辞竟奉(たたえごとおえまつ)らくと白(もう)す。

nosakiwoba kakejikara chikara miki shirokino shirunimo kainimo akimatsurini tatematsuruto satono tonerato morotomoni kamono nasuihaimotoori kashikomi kashikomimo tataegotooematsurakuto mousu.

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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