106「朝日さす心もさえて窓により天かけりゆく天照るの吾れ。」- 植芝盛平
Original Waka
朝日さす
植芝盛平 (Ueshiba, 1977)
心もさえて
窓により
天かけりゆく
天照るの吾れ
Translation
“As the morning sun shines in, my heart continues growing clear, bright, and keen; drawing near the window—soaring across the heavens—I, the heaven-shining one.” – Morihei Ueshiba
Waka Translation
Morning sun streaming—
this heart too grows keen and clear,
nearing window’s edge—
soaring across the heavens,
I, the heaven-shining one.
Morihei Ueshiba
歴史的仮名遣い（語構成を明示）1
朝日さす（あさひさす）
心も冴えて（こころもさえて）
窓に寄り（まどにより）
天翔り行く（あまかけりゆく）
天照るの吾れ（あまてるのわれ）
植芝盛平
Bungo Romanization
asahi sasu
kokoro mo saete
mado ni yori
ama kakeri yuku
amateru no ware
Ueshiba Morihei
Notes
1 Writing 天翔り行く clarifies that Ueshiba’s “天かけりゆく” uses 翔る (kakeru, ‘to soar’) in its 連用形 かけり, a standard bungo construction before ゆく. The source prints “天かけりゆく”; the normalized 翔 helps show the etymology.
Translation, Notes, Commentary, and Research by Latex G. N. R. Space-Coyote
Ueshiba, M. (2025). 植芝盛平道歌–106: The heaven-shining one (L. G. N. R. Space-Coyote, Trans.; OpenAI ChatGPT-5 Pro, Ed.). Shugyokai.org. (Original work published 1977) https://shugyokai.org/wp9v
朝日（あさひ; asahi) — “morning sun”.
さす（sasu）— from 差す / 射す, “to shine in, to stream (light)”.
朝日さす（あさひさす; asahi sasu）— literally “[as] the morning sun shines [in],” this is a classical poetic epithet (a Manyō-style makurakotoba) that connotes fresh illumination and renewal. It signals an auspicious, purifying light that sets the spiritual tone of the poem; classical diction often opens with a light‑bearing epithet; asahi‑sasu also resonates / functions like a makuraktoba-style (i.e., pillow word) epithet in classical poetry, evoking fresh, purifying light at daybreak “(with) the morning sun shining”. Sets a luminous, auspicious stage—both literal light entering a room and spiritual illumination, aligned with Shintō ideas of sunlight as purifying and life‑giving. あさひ carries 日／火: “sun/day” and “fire,” both core images of divine radiance and vital energy in Shintō discourse.
心 （こころ; kokoro）integrated “heart‑mind”, seat of feeling, intention, and thought.
も（mo）— – “also / even”.
さえて（saete）— 連用形 + 接続助詞 te from 冴ゆ / 冴える (sayu / saeru), a classical verb “to be clear, sharp, keen; to become crisp / piercing”, used of sound, light, and mental clarity (古語辞典; see also explanations of 冴ゆ as ‘to become limpid / piercingly clear’); the verb 冴ゆ (“to be keen / limpid”) is often associated with winter air, sharp sounds, or a clear moon; here it’s applied to kokoro, giving a precise image of cool, crisp mental‑spiritual lucidity.
心もさえて（こころもさえて; kokoro mo saete）— “even (my) heart, becoming clear / crisp.” 冴ゆ (sayu, yodan/下二段 in classical) → 連用形 冴え + 接続助詞 て. The classical verb carries the senses “to be clear / keen; to become sharply distinct”; saeru means “to become clear / keen / bright”; the phrase suggests mental lucidity and purity of intention—virtues central to Shintō-inflected ethics and to Ueshiba’s teaching that proper technique arises from a clarified heart-mind (kokoro); uses classical 冴ゆ to signal mental/spirital lucidity, not only visual clarity.
窓（まど; mado）— “window”.
に（により; ni）— locative/goal particle, “at / toward”.
より（より; mado ni yori）— 連用形 of 寄る “to approach, draw close, lean toward”.
窓により（まどにより; mado ni yori）— literally “drawing near [to] the window,” an image of turning toward the source of light. In the poem’s inner logic, the body’s movement mirrors spiritual orientation: aligning oneself with the light so that perception and action are guided by it; a bodily gesture that situates the speaker at the limen (window), a trope for awareness turning outward before the epiphany in 4–5.
天（あま; ama）— heaven, sky, space.
かけり（kakeri）— 連用形 of 翔る kakeru, “to soar, to race through the sky”, used for birds, deities, or swift motion in the heavens.
ゆく（ゆく; yuku）— auxiliary verb “to go, to go on …‑ing,” adding a sense of continuation.
天かけりゆく（あまかけりゆく; ama kakeri yuku）— an archaic, exalted expression—“to run / soar through the heavens”—familiar from mythic and courtly registers. It evokes swift motion in the celestial realm, a standard trope for divine or inspired movement; 翔る (kakeru, ラ行四段) → 連用形 翔り + 行く/ゆく (‘to go on doing’). The phrase 天翔る is a classical idiom meaning “to shine or move in the great sky; (gods / spirits) to fly or race across the sky,” with 翔り exactly the 連用形 seen in many Man’yōshū examples; an exalted register used for divine or inspired motion since the Man’yōshū.
天照る (あまてる; amateru) – classical intransitive verb “to shine in heaven, to shine in the sky”; dictionary gloss: “to shine up in the heavens; to gleam in the sky,” with early examples in Man’yōshū (e.g. “amateru moon”).
の（no） — here links the attributive verb 天照る to 吾れ, forming an epithet: “I, (the one who) shine(s) in heaven”.
吾れ（ware） — classical 1st‑person pronoun (“I”), more archaic and weighty than 私.
天照るの吾れ（あまてるのわれ; amateru no ware） — literally “I—(the) heaven‑shining one” or “I, (who am) heaven‑shining”; amateru (“heaven‑shining”) puns on and alludes to Amaterasu (天照大神), the sun deity whose radiance orders and vivifies the world. Ueshiba often frames the realized self as a transparent vessel of cosmic light (ki), not a self-aggrandizing claim but an affirmation that one’s true nature resonates with the divine order; 天照る (amateru, ラ行四段) means “to shine in the heavens,” attested since the Man’yōshū; here の links the attributive to 吾れ ‘I’, yielding “I, the one who shines (heaven)”; grammatically, 天照る (attributive) + の + 吾れ yields an identity epithet; culturally it alludes to Amateru / Amaterasu (the “heaven‑shining” deity), a frequent touchstone in Ueshiba’s religious language.
Form & diction (classical waka). The poem scans as a tanka (5–7–5–7–7). Ueshiba often composed dōka—moral/spiritual poems in classical diction—to express Aikidō’s cosmology and ethics. Here the poem unfolds from illumination, to inner clarity, to orientation, to transcendent motion, to identity in light.
Classical lexemes and conjugations. The poem’s key verbs are 冴ゆ (sayu, classical) and 翔る (kakeru, ラ行四段), here in 翔り + 行く; and 天照る (amateru, ラ四). These are all standard in bungo, with 翔る and 天照る attested since early Japanese verse.
Makurakotoba coloring. 朝日さす echoes the classical epithet tradition (makurakotoba), helping the whole poem sit comfortably in an archaizing style.
Serial 連用形 before ゆく. The 連用形 (翔り) + ゆく sequence is a normal classical way to express continuation (“go on X‑ing”).
Pronoun choice. 吾れ is a classical first‑person form; its use rather than modern 私 matches bungo tone. (See overviews of classical morphology and pronouns.)
Meter & phrasing. Split as 5‑7‑5 // 7‑7 with a semantic turn: the kami‑no‑ku sets the luminous scene and the inner state, the shimo‑no‑ku lifts to cosmic motion and self‑identification—an orthodox rhetorical flow for waka.
Diction & imagery. Light/clarity → movement through the heavens → identity epithet is a well‑trodden imagistic arc in classical verse where epithets and divine motion (e.g., 天翔る) condense theology into 31 mora.
Shintō light, Amaterasu, and the self. In Shintō cosmology, Amaterasu Ōmikami is the “Heaven‑Shining Great Deity,” sun goddess and mythical ancestress of the imperial line (Hardacre, 2017; Breen & Teeuwen, 2010). Light from heaven is not just physical illumination but ordering, life‑giving radiance—a theme that runs through shrine liturgies, myths, and modern Shintō theology. By writing 天照るの吾れ, Ueshiba fuses the verb “to shine in heaven” with first person, so that the self is experienced as a channel of Amaterasu‑like luminosity rather than a separate ego (Greenhalgh, 2003/2010).
Cultural interpretation. Ueshiba’s dōka often mix classical diction with Shintō cosmology (light, Amateru / Amaterasu, heaven) and Ōmoto (Omoto‑kyō) resonances (e.g., kotodama, divine light, cosmic movement). Scholars of Shintō note that Amaterasu / Amateru (“heaven‑shining”) stands at the center of imperial cult and modern Shintō imagination; Ueshiba’s “I, the heaven‑shining one” can be read as a mystical identification with that solar luminosity—not as hubris but as realization of harmony with kami‑order (musubi, luminous unity).
Morning rituals. The movement 窓により—going to the window—parallels Ueshiba’s teaching that one should turn the body toward light each day (e.g., his dawn rituals greeting the sun), described in diaries and oral accounts.
Aikidō and Ōmoto. Histories of Aikidō and Omoto emphasize Ueshiba’s decades‑long spiritual formation under Deguchi Onisaburō: Omoto texts teem with light and heaven‑journeying metaphors, a frame that makes the “天かけりゆく／天照るの吾れ” pairing legible as religious poetics rather than mere ornament. Academic treatments of Omoto’s myth‑making and modern Shintō further explain how such language fuses personal practice with cosmic hierarchy—a register that Ueshiba transposes into martial‑art spirituality.
Historical approach. For readers approaching the language historically, standard linguistics references clarify how bungo forms like 冴ゆ, 翔る, and 天照る sit within the diachrony from Old to Middle Japanese and into modern written styles.
Curious kakekotoba. Triple kakekotoba of 天 (heaven, sky) ／海人 (fisherfolk, sea people)／尼 (Buddhist nun); in 107–108, that light even reaches to the sea bottom, bridging heaven, sea, and ascetic as a martial ascetic meditating heaven’s light into the turbulent “sea” of the world. かけり can be read 翔る／駆ける (to fly, run swiftly) ／ 架ける (to span as a bridge)／ 掛ける／懸ける (to hang, to lay over, to stake/devote, to entrust etc.) leading to “soaring / racing through the heavens”, “arching / bridging across heaven”, and “hanging upon / staking oneself to heaven”. Given how obsessively the surrounding dōka talk about floating bridges of heaven (天の浮橋) and Aikidō as a bridge between heaven, earth, and humanity, the “bridge / span / hang / devote” cluster of かける is thematically live even if not graphically specified. かけり therefore supports double actions of dynamic flying and structural bridging / hanging / dedicating, which are orthogonal and seem to relate to Izu (structure) / Mizu (dynamic).
Other sources. This dōka is exactly replicated in 武産合気 (Takahashi, 1986, p. 40).
解説; Commentary
この第106首は「朝日さす／心もさえて／窓により／天かけりゆく／天照るの吾れ。」と、光のイメージを一気に自分のあり方まで引き上げている句ですね。ページの語注が押さえているように、「朝日さす」は万葉以来の枕詞ふうの言い回しで、清新な光・浄化・再生のニュアンスをまとった朝日そのもの。その光に呼応して「心も冴えて」とあるときの「冴ゆ」は、冬の空気や澄んだ音に使う、“ひんやりするほどくっきりした明晰さ”の古語です。そこから「窓により」――身体を光源へ向けて動かし、「天かけりゆく」――天を翔る（翔り＋ゆく）という神話語彙に飛躍し、最後に「天照るの吾れ」と自分を“天に輝く者”と名乗る。ここには、天照大神（“天照る”神）への含みをもった光＝神性＝自己の連結があり、アマテラスを「天照る大御神」として語る神道的イメージを、開祖が自分の内的経験として歌い直しているのが見えてきます。
六つのプライマーと重ねて見ると、この一首は「実際に合気が身に通ったときの“姿”」を象徴しているように読めます。プライマーの第一原理〈武＝宇宙原理〉で言われていた“宇宙の秩序”は、ここでは「天かけりゆく／天照る」光の運行として立ち上がり、その原理と自分が「吾れ」として重なる。ライマーの第二原理〈人との合気〉は、こうした冴えた心（心もさえて）をもって他者と向き合う合気の入口だし、プライマーの第三原理〈心魂一如〉は、朝日の光と心の透明度と身体の向き（窓により）が寸分のズレなく一線にそろう状態を歌ったものとも言える。プライマーの第四原理〈和合美化〉に照らせば、ここで描かれるのは「世界と自分が明るく調和して、美しく照り合っている瞬間」であり、プライマーの第五原理〈体＝道場／心＝修業者〉の観点からは、ページの注が触れるように「窓に寄って朝日を迎える」という日々の朝稽古・朝拝そのものが、身体スケールの“天かけりゆく”だと読める。そしてプライマーの第六原理〈「至愛」の源に順うを受ければ、「天照るの吾れ」は、エゴの肥大ではなく、“神の光（至愛）の通路としての自分”を肯定する言い方だ、と理解できるわけです。
直前の三首との流れもここで一本になります。第103首では「合気とは筆や口には尽くされず、言いふらすな、悟って行え」と、“合気とは何か”を最終メッセージとして語ろうとするな、悟りとして生きろと釘を刺しました。第104首は「解けばむつかし道なれど、ありのままなる天のめぐりに」と、言葉でほどくと難解でも、実際の合気は“ありのままの天の運行”に身を置くことだと示した。第105首は「合気とは万和合の力なり、たゆまず磨け道の人々」と、合気を“万の和合を起こす力”とだけ規定し、「たゆまず自分を磨け」と実践に返した。その流れを受けると、第106首は――朝日の光に心が冴え、窓辺で天へと翔り出し、自分が“天照るもの”として目覚めている瞬間――として、「悟って行う合気」「天のめぐりとしての合気」「万和合の力としての合気」が、一人の修行者の内的体験として凝縮された情景とも読めます。合気を定義で“締める”のではなく、光と心と動きがひとつになった“天照る吾れ”として生きる――その生のあり方を、このページの歌は静かに指し示しているように思います。
口語要約のひとこと
「朝日がさし込んで心も冴えわたり、窓辺に寄って天を翔けめぐる――天に輝くこの私なんだ。」
References
Breen, J., & Teeuwen, M. (2010). A new history of Shinto. Wiley‑Blackwell.
Brower, R. H., & Miner, E. (1961). Japanese court poetry. Stanford University Press.
Carter, S. D. (1991). Traditional Japanese poetry: An anthology. Stanford University Press.
Carter, S. D. (2019). How to read a Japanese poem. Columbia University Press.
DIGITALIO. (n.d.). 天翔る. In Kotobank.
Donohue, J. J. (1991). The forge of the spirit: Structure, motion, and meaning in the Japanese martial tradition. Garland.
Frellesvig, B. (2010). A history of the Japanese language. Cambridge University Press.
Greenhalgh, M. (2003). Aikido and spirituality: Japanese religious influences in a martial art (Master’s thesis). Durham University e-Theses. https://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4081/
Hardacre, H. (2017). Shinto: A history. Oxford University Press.
Kasulis, T. P. (2004). Shinto: The way home. University of Hawai‘i Press.
McCullough, H. C. (1988). Bungo manual: Selected reference materials for students of classical Japanese. Cornell East Asia Series.
Shirane, H. (2007). Classical Japanese reader and essential dictionary. Columbia University Press.
Stalker, N. K. (2008). Prophet motive: Deguchi Onisaburō, Ōmoto, and the rise of new religions in imperial Japan. University of Hawai‘i Press.
Takahashi, H. (1986). 武産合気 ー合気道開祖・植芝盛平先生口述 [Takemusu Aiki: The Oral Teachings of Aikido Founder, Ueshiba Morihei Sensei]. 白光真宏会出版本部 [Byakko Shinko-kai Shuppan Honbu].
Ueshiba, M. (1977). 合気道奥義（道歌）(S. Abe, Ed.). 阿部, 醒石. Retrieved from http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~yp7h-td/douka.htm
Vovin, A. (2020). A descriptive and comparative grammar of Western Old Japanese (2nd ed., 2 vols.). Brill.
Appendix I: Change Modification Log
07 JAN 26 - Updated ame-no-ukahashi with oral lecture of O-Sensei to which refers to it as prayer.03 JAN 26 - Cross-referenced dōka in Takahashi (1986).21 OCT 25 - Phase V styling applied to waka.14 NOV 25 - Phase IV completion; commentary added.15 OCT 25 - Phase III completion.14 APR 20 - Initial notes transfer.