Norito

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Norito ( Japanese 祝詞 ) are ritualized prayers in Shinto . They are always aimed at one or more kami and are recited in ancient Japanese by the highest Shinto priest.

etymology

The exact meaning of the word is not yet clear. However, it is probably derived from the nominalization of the verb noru 'proclaim' with the suffix to . The usual spelling is 祝詞 with the meaning 'prayer words', whereby the characters are only read in this context ( Jukujikun ), i.e. H. Chinese characters were assigned to an older Japanese word solely according to their meaning, regardless of their pronunciation. The characters 祝詞 are based on the Chinese term 祝文  - “magic words of a shaman for the gods” whereby the last character with the meaning “writing” has been replaced by that for “(spoken) words”. Further spellings for norito or with the suffix 言 'words' also noritogoto (also notto for short ) were 詔 戸 言 'Decree-Door-Sagen' in Kojiki , 詔 刀 言 'Decree-Sword-Sagen' in Nakatomi no yogoto , 諄 辞 'Supporting words' in Nihonshoki , 告 刀 'proclaiming sword' in Kōtai jingū gishikichō and 法 刀 言 'law-sword-saga' in Ryō no shūge , whereby the characters for door / sword were only used because of their phonetic pronunciation to .

meaning

Norito have been largely standardized to 27 pieces since the prayer collections were published in the 10th century Engishiki . Most of the time, only the occasion of the sacrifice made to the kami (s), the name of the person making the sacrifice, the name of the executive priest and the occasion of the sacrifice change in the text presented. The 27 Norito are on the occasion of:

  1. New Year prayers for a good harvest ( 祈 年 祭 Toshigoi no matsuri )
  2. Kasuga Festival ( 春日 祭 Kasuga no matsuri )
  3. Big taboo [= food goddess ] festival of Hirose ( 廣 瀬 大忌 祭 Hirose no Ōimi no matsuri )
  4. Festival of the wind gods of Tatsuta ( 龍田 風神 祭 Tatsuta no kaze no kami no matsuri )
  5. Hirano Festival ( 平野 祭 Hirano no matsuri )
  6. [Festival for the deities] Kudo and Furuseki / Furuaki [by Hirano] ( 久 度 古 關 Kudo Furuseki / Furuaki )
  7. Tsukinami festival of the 6th month ( 六月 月 次 Minazuki no tsukinami )
  8. Great Palace Festival ( 大殿 祭 Ōtono hokai )
  9. Palace Gate Festival ( 御 門 祭 Mikado hokai )
  10. Great purification ceremony at the end of the 6th month ( 六月 晦 大 祓Minatsuki no tsugomori no ōharae )
  11. Mystical words when the Fumi no Imiki of Yamato present the sword ( 東 文 忌 寸 部 献 横刀 時 ノ 呪 Yamato no Fumi no Imiki-be no tachi o tatematsuru toki no ju )
  12. Festival to pacify the fire ( 鎮 火 祭 Hoshizume no matsuri )
  13. Street Banquet Festival ( 道 饗 祭Michiae no matsuri )
  14. Great harvest festival [at the accession of a new emperor] ( 大 嘗 祭 Ōnie no matsuri )
  15. Festival to pacify the sublime spirits in / with Iwaido ( 鎮 御 魂 齋 戸 祭 Mitama o iwaido ni shizumuru matsuri )
  16. Harvest prayer festival in the 2nd month and tsukinami festival in the 6th and 12th month ( 二月 祈 年 、 六月 十二月 月 次 祭 Nigatsu no toshigoi, Minazuki-Shiwasu no tsukinami no matsuri )
  17. Toyouke Shrine Festival ( 豊 受 宮 Toyuke no miya )
  18. Festival of the robe deity in the 4th month ( 四月 ノ 神 衣 祭 Uzugi no kanmiso no matsuri )
  19. Tsukinami festival in the 6th month ( 六月 ノ 月 次 祭 Minazuki no tsukinami no matsuri )
  20. Festival of the harvest sacrifice for the gods in the 9th month ( 九月 ノ 神 嘗 祭 Nagatsuki no kannie no matsuri )
  21. Same festival in the Toyouke Shrine ( 豊 受 宮 同 祭 Toyuke no miya onajiki matsuri )
  22. Same festival of harvest sacrifices for the gods ( 同 神 嘗 祭 Onajiku kannie no matsuri )
  23. Consecration of the imperial princess on her arrival ( 斎 内 親王 奉 入時 Itsuki no himemiko o irematsuru toki )
  24. Ritual words for the parade of the shrine of a great deity ( 遷 奉 大 神宮 祝詞 Ōkami no miya o utsushimatsuru norito )
  25. Words to drive out an evil deity ( 遷 却 祟 神祭Tatarigami o utsushiyaru kotoba )
  26. Presentation of the gifts on the occasion of the departure of an embassy to China ( 遣 唐 使 時 奉 幣 Morokoshi ni tsukai o tsukawasu toki ni tatematsuru mitegura )
  27. Congratulations to the deity by the head of Izumo ( 出 雲 国 造 神 賀詞 Izumo no kuni no miyatsuko no kan'yogoto )

The Norito 1 to 15 are for court rites and sorted according to their chronological order, numbers 16 to 24 relate to the feasts of the Ise shrine , while the last three are recited on extraordinary occasions.

The effectiveness (in relation to the favor of the kami (s) to whom one turns) of a Norito should depend on the perfection of the rendering: The general view in Shintō states that only correctly performed Norito guarantee the fulfillment of the request made with it (see Kotodama ). However, norito are only indirect prayers in the sense of requests made to the kami (s), rather they are a form of show of respect or gratitude that is intended to confirm harmony with the kami.

Every Shinto ceremony and festival ( Matsuri ) has at least one matching Norito. In State Shinto , the Norito presented in the Shinto shrines and still often inconsistent to date were largely standardized by the government for all of Japan, but this was partially reversed after the end of World War II.

Linguistically, the Norito des Engishiki are of great importance because although they were first compiled in the 10th century, they received the older language level of the old Japanese language by the 8th century at the latest.

literature

  • Tsukamoto Tetsuzō ( 塚 本 哲 三 ): Kojiki , Norito, Fudoki ( 古 事 記 ・ 祝詞 ・ 風土 記 ) . Yūhōdō Shoten ( 有 朋 堂 書店 ), 1915 ( digitized in the Internet Archive - copies of the works named in the title).

Web links

  • Motosawa Masafumi:  "Norito" . In: Encyclopedia of Shinto. Kokugaku-in , March 28, 2007 (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bjarke Frellesvig: A History of the Japanese Language . Cambridge University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-65320-6 , pp. 24 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed February 10, 2018]).