修行会

1「一、武は萬有の根元にして我建国の一大精神なり。それ武術は皇国の道に起り百事神と。」- 植芝盛平

Original

一、武は萬有の根元にして
我建国の一大精神なり。
それ武術は皇国の道に起り
百事神と。

植芝盛平 (Ueshiba, 1977)

Translation¹

“First: Bu (martial principle) is the root of all that exists, and is one great animating spirit of our nation’s founding. Thus, bujutsu (martial arts) arise from Kōkoku no Michi; [In] all affairs, [deem them] divine.” – Morihei Ueshiba

Bungo Romanization

Ichi, bu wa banyū no kongen ni shite
waga kenkoku no ichidai seishin nari
sore, bujutsu wa Kōkoku no Michi ni okori, hyakuji o kami to (su).

Morihei Ueshiba

歴史的仮名遣い（語構成を明示）²

武は元 (たけはもと)

萬有の根に (ばんゆうのねに)

なるものぞ (なるものぞ)

皇國の道 (こうこくのみち)

百事神とす (ひゃくじかみとす)

Bungo Romanization²

take wa moto
ban’yū no to ni
naru mono zo
kōkoku no michi
hyakuji kami to su

Bungo Translation²

Martial is the root
of everything that is
so it is indeed—

Kōkoku no Michi,
every deed is divine.

Notes

¹ This verse is flavored with imperial context of historical Japan; for a martial artist, it is recommended to penetrate to the functions of these concepts, which is what Morihei Ueshiba is doing here (e.g., “nation building spirit”). What does that look like on the level of structural-functional, conflict, and symbolic interaction (sociological perspectives)?

² Bungo reverse translation into waka/tanka not composed by Ueshiba Morihei; back translation supports critical translation efforts.

Translation, Notes, Commentary, and Research by Latex G. N. R. Space-Coyote

Ueshiba, M. (2025). 植芝盛平道歌–001: Primer-1, 武＝cosmic principle (L. G. N. R. Space-Coyote, Trans.; OpenAI ChatGPT-5 Pro, Ed.). Shugyokai.org. (Original work published 1977) https://shugyokai.org/rj49

一（いち; Ichi）— first.

武（たけ / ぶ; take / bu）— martial (stop[ping] spear[s]); note that O-Sensei used bu in a cosmic or spiritual concept as the unifying force in the universe.

萬有（よろず ゆう; yorozu yū）— all things, all existence.

根元（ねもと; nemoto）— root cause, origin.

萬有の根元（よろず ゆう の ねもと; yorozū no nemoto）— “the root (or foundation) of all existence)”.

武は萬有の根元にして（たけはよろずゆうのねもとにして; take yorozū no nemoto）— “Bu (martial principle) is the root of all that exists, and …”; にして here is the classical connective ‘and being / and also’ (に + して) that links predicates; not the modern concessive “〜にしては”. The noun 武 is used by Ueshiba in a metaphysical sense (cosmic ordering power), not merely “military” (cf. Shirane, 2005).

我（が; ga）— me, my, we, us, our, stubbornly hold to one’s opinion, to kill, tilted.

建（けん; ken）— build, establish, erect, found.

国（く ; ku）— land, country, region, nation, state, office of emperor, crown, affairs of state, province, capital, birthplace

建国（こく ; koku）— establishment of nation, founding.

大（だい; dai）— great.

精神（せいしん; seishin）— seishin, spirit, soul, will.

我建国の一大精神なり（がけんこくのいちだいせいしんなり; ga kenkoku no ichi dai seishin nari）— “… is one great animating spirit of our nation’s founding.” なり is the classical copula (終止), standard in bungo. The phrase 我建国 evokes state‑foundation ideology current in prewar discourse. 

武術（ぶじゅつ; bujutsu）— martial art, bujutsu.

皇（こう; kō）— monarch, creator, emperor, ruler.

道（みち; michi）— way.

皇国の道（こうこくのみち ; kōkoku no michi）— “The Way of the Imperial Nation” (Early Shōwa-era language); “Imperial Way”; reverence for the emperor and the myth-historical basis of the nation (see Space-Coyote, 2025).

起（おこり; okori）— rise, up, break out, grow, start, begin, become, to take, initiate, prepare, draw up, come up, extract, pull out, remove.

それ武術は皇国の道に起り（それぶじゅつは こうこくのみちにおこり; sore bujutsu wa kōkoku no michi ni okori）— “Thus, the martial arts arise from the Imperial Realm’s Way.” それ works as a transition (“therefore/now then”) in formal prose. 皇国の道 (kōkoku no michi, “Imperial Way”) is a key formula in 1930s kokutai ideology and educational texts (e.g., Kokutai no Hongi). 起り is historical orthography for modern 起こり (okori; Japanese Ministry of Education, 1937/1949). Note that bu is distinguished from bujtusu here.

事（じ; ji）— affair[s]; concern[s]; attention[s].

百事（ひゃくじ; hyakuji）— myriad number of issues; all kinds of matters.

神（かみ / しん; kami / shin）— divine; divinity; god(s).

百事神と（ひゃくじかみ / ひゃくじしん; hyakuji kami / hyakuji shin）— archaic phrase meaning “[In] all affairs, [deem them] divine.”; Ueshiba believed that true martial practice resonates with divine / universal principals, transforming ordinary activities into sacred acts. Classical とす ‘to call/consider X as Y’ is frequently elliptical in aphoristic style; the object marker を is also easily omitted in bungo (understood by context): 百事（を）神と（す）. See scholarship on 「…とす」 in older Japanese (Tsujimoto, 2023).

Orthography. Use of 萬／國, historical kana in forms like 起り, and topic は alongside classical auxiliaries reflects 歴史的仮名遣い and pre‑1946 spelling conventions, which persisted in elite prose into early Shōwa. 

Morphology. The sentence‑final なり (classical copula), connective にして, and ellipsis of を/す (in …神と) are standard bungo features documented in classical grammars and studies of auxiliary/particle usage.

Diction/register. Phrases like 萬有の根元 (“root of all existence”) and 一大精神 (“great animating spirit”) belong to kanbun‑style Sino‑Japanese learned vocabulary typical of late Meiji–Shōwa formal writing, frequently used in state and religious discourse. Classical style persisted in manifestos and dōka (cf. Shirane, 2005).

Ideological set phrases. 皇国の道 is a fixed expression tied to kokutai pedagogy and imperial ethics (Kokutai no Hongi, Shinmin no Michi), which were written in bungo and taught nationwide through the 1930s–40s (Japanese Ministry of Education, 1937/1939). Reading it in that register is historically faithful.

Aphoristic ellipsis. The terse …神と without overt す aligns with gnomic classical style in moral maxims and dōka, where copulas or light verbs are often understood (Tsujimoto, 2023).

Religious background. Ueshiba’s dōka compress a cosmology where aiki and bu are aligned with kami order (Shintō). His sacral language resonates with kotodama (“word‑soul”) discourse—where naming / revering the divine effects alignment with it—a theme central in Edo kokugaku and modern Shintō thought (Breen & Teeuwen, 2010).

Imperial ideology interface. Terms like 皇国の道／我建国 reflect the kokutai idiom in which martial cultivation (bujutsu) served the Emperor‑centered moral order. Kokutai no Hongi explains this nexus of ethics, nation, and sacrality; the line fits this discursive field even as Ueshiba’s personal theology reframes “Bu” as cosmic harmony rather than mere militarism (Japanese Ministry of Education, 1937/1939). 

Anthropology/history of budō. Scholars of Japanese martial culture point out how bujutsu / budō in late Meiji–Shōwa were textualized as moral‑civilizational projects, not mere fighting arts—precisely the stance found here (martial practice arising from a national‑spiritual “Way,” oriented to the divine in “all affairs”; Gainty, 2013).

Bungo Back-Translation Notes

武は元／萬有の根に compresses 「武は萬有の根元にして」 (“Martial principle is the root of all existence”). The kun reading たけ for 「武」 is attested, esp. in names/poetic diction.

なるものぞ mirrors bungo …なり with emphatic ぞ, a typical classical assertive.

皇国の道より rephrases 「武術は皇国の道に起り」 (“martial arts arise from the Imperial Way”), using より “from.” The gikun reading すめらみち evokes archaic Shinto‑imperial nuance appropriate to waka.

百事神とす reproduces 「百事神と」 as the classical judgment “to treat all affairs as divine,” with とす(‘consider/regard as’).

The clause 「我建国の一大精神なり」 is represented implicitly by lines 4–5: the Imperial Way → all matters divine sequence condenses Ueshiba’s “founding spirit” rhetoric as seen in extended variants of this passage.

Classical copula. using なる (連体) from なり reflects the bungo copular system (ni ari → nari). The emphatic ぞmarks classical focus; both are standard features in pre‑modern style.

Classical predicate “X を Y とす / X を Y と為す”. W use …神とす to mirror Ueshiba’s 「百事神と」; this judgment/definition pattern is conventional in classical prose/poetics.

Kyūjitai & historical orthography. 「萬／國」 and the stem 起り (older spelling) match pre‑war/Meiji–Shōwa bungo. (See sources reproducing Ueshiba’s text in such orthography.) 

Poetic gikun. Assigning kun readings for semantic color (e.g., reading 「皇国の道」 as すめらみち) is a recognized literary device in waka and elevated prose.

Form. the 5‑7‑5‑7‑7 structure and kami‑no‑ku / shimo‑no‑ku division are the normative tanka template. 

Doctrinal rhetoric: Ueshiba often framed bu as cosmic principle and tied budō to the Imperial Way and divinity of affairs, language traceable in early manuals and essays (e.g., Budō Renshū preface: 「夫レ武術ハ皇國ノ道ニ起リ百事神ト…」). Our lines 4–5 echo this register.

Extended variants. A parallel formulation states 「武は神の御姿御心より出で…我建国の一大精神なり。夫れ武術は皇国の道に起り百事神と…」, explicitly linking 武 to founding spirit (kenkoku no ichidai seishin). The tanka compresses this into the lower phrase. 

Religious coloring. Ueshiba’s Omotokyō/Shintō background (kotodama, ichirei shikon, kannagara no michi) makes the diction すめらみち and 神とす not only stylistically classical but theologically apt. 

Scholars of religion and martial‑arts history note that Ueshiba’s language blends budō with Shintō / Ōmoto metaphysics (e.g., kotodama) and with early‑20th‑century imperial discourse. In this register, 武 is less “military force” than cosmic harmonization, the root of all existence, yielding a view where practice “arises from the Imperial Way” and sacralizes human affairs (“百事神と”). This mix of Shintō theology, new‑religion influence, and modern nationalist idioms is well documented in religious‑studies and martial‑culture literature. 

Shugyokai note. Working Coleman (1990) boat model pre-democracy (emperor as sovereign) includes macro kokutai (国体) → meso bujutsu lineage (武道血統) → micro daily posture/attitude (日常的な姿勢・態度) → 武道血統 → 国体 where 国体 → 国体, and where 武道血統 (秘事/稽古) interaction mediates 国体 ↔ 日常的な姿勢・態度.