Saijō Harae — Prayer of Highest Purification

最上祓

11

Purification through the solemn norito

Purification through the solemn norito

Takamanoharāmatsu no ritonofutonoritomochikakannonden高天原、天津祝詞の太祝詞、持可々牟呑天

Harai tamai kiyome tamau祓ひ賜ひ、清め賜ふ

TranslationPurification through the solemn norito

Includes interpretation

Through the heavenly norito of Takamanohara—through its solemn and venerable words—receive and consume every transgression and impurity, and grant purification and cleansing.

Editorial note

The object of “receive and consume” is not stated explicitly in the compact Japanese text. This rendering supplies transgression and impurity from the prayer’s title and closing petition.

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Saijō Harae — Prayer of Highest Purification

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Saijō Harae — Prayer of Highest Purification

About Saijō Harae — Prayer of Highest Purification

Overview

A brief purification prayer transmitted since the early-modern period, declaring the great ritual words in a single breath and asking that bodily impurity and transgression be cleansed by their power.

Structure
1sections
Japanese text
28characters
Notes
3notes

Purposes

  • To proclaim the great ritual words
  • To pray for purification of bodily transgression and impurity

Background

Found in early-modern manuscripts and illustrated publications and later purification collections, this formula is even more compressed than Saiyo Harae, joining the great words and their purifying action in one sentence.

Flow of the text

Presented in a single section: “Purification through the solemn norito.”

What to know before reading

  • The prayer consists of one continuous section whose uninterrupted flow is central to its form.

  • The passage corresponding to mochi kakamu nomite is a difficult phrase whose writing and reading are not stable across sources.

  • Rather than forcing a word-for-word certainty, the difficult phrase is read within the purifying movement of the prayer as a whole.

Saijō Harae — Prayer of Highest Purification

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Saijō Harae — Prayer of Highest Purification

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Saijō Harae — Prayer of Highest Purification

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