修行会

165「・・・かなづかいなど音韻を主として、現代かなづかいでない所もあります。解説は全く致しませんでしたが皆さんの心読・身読によって翁先生の真にふれて下さい。・・・」

Translation

“…Some parts use phonetic spelling and other aspects of pronunciation that differ from modern kana usage. I have provided no commentary whatsoever; please experience the true essence of Ō-Sensei through your own silent reading and physical reading…”– 阿部醒石先生 (Ueshiba, 1977)

歴史的仮名遣い（語構成を明示）¹

仮名遣ひ (かなづかひ)

音韻を以て (おんいんをもて

現ならず (げんならず)

解説はせず (かいせつはせず)
翁に触れよ (おきなにふれよ)

Bungo Romanization¹

kanazukai

on’in o mote

gen narazu

kaisetsu wa sezu

okina ni fureyo

Bungo Translation¹

Kana spellings
mostly by sound they flow,
not modern in parts;

no commentary given,
heart and body, touch the truth.

Notes

¹ Bungo waka backtest for translation keiko; this is not a direct quote from Abe Sensei, yet condenses the original afterword. It is presented here as a demonstration.

阿部醒石 — Seiseki Abe (O’Sensei’s student, and calligraphy teacher to O’Sensei)

醒石師 (Seiseki‑shi) — respectfully names Abe Seiseki (阿部醒石; あべ・せいせき), Ueshiba’s shodō mentor (and his aikidō student). 醒石 is the pen name of 阿部醒石. With the honorific 師, it is adjusted to five mora.

先生 (sensei) — honorific; “one/those who have went before”

翁先生 (おうせんせい) — an honorific for Ō-Sensei; great teacher; old teacher etc.

Using kun’yomi for 翁. Okina-sensei (おきなせんせい): This combines the native Japanese reading for “venerable old man” with the Sino-Japanese word for “teacher.” This is a very common way to read such compounds, blending the native and borrowed elements.

Using on’yomi for 翁. Ō-sensei (おうせんせい): This uses the Sino-Japanese readings for both characters. This form is a direct borrowing from Chinese but was less common for personal names and titles than the mixed reading.

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Bungo Backtest Notes

仮名遣ひ puts the editorial remark’s focus (“かなづかい”) up front and marks 旧仮名遣い graphically (‑い → ‑ひ). This mirrors the source’s attention to spelling norms.

音韻を以て renders 「音韻を主として」 concisely in bungo: 以て (“by means of”) is idiomatic classical diction.

現ならず compresses 「現代かなづかいでない所もあります」 into an elliptical classical phrase (“not modern [in places]”), a common waka device of abstraction to maintain meter. On waka ellipsis/intertextuality, see Brower & Miner and Shirane.

解説はせず captures 「解説は全く致しませんでした」 compactly. ‑ず is the classical negative continuative; its bare use in poetry is standard.

翁に触れよ condenses 「皆さんの心読・身読によって翁先生の真にふれて下さい」 into an imperative (“touch the Elder”) while keeping the honorific 翁 for Ō‑sensei (written also 翁先生 in sources). The understood object is 「真」. Cf. usage of Ōsensei (大先生/翁先生) for Ueshiba Morihei.

旧仮名遣い signals “old style” most economically: e.g., 遣ひ; object marker を; and classical auxiliary patterns like ‑ず, 命令形（‑よ）, and 以て. These are standard features of bungo (Heian‑based literary language). 

The editorial contrast in the source (“現代かなづかい” vs. non‑modern forms written with attention to 音韻) is reflected directly in lines 1–3. Modern kana rules explicitly write words “in accordance with contemporary phonology,” whereas older spellings conserve historical morphology; our diction plays precisely on that policy contrast.

Using the imperative ‑よ (触れよ) is a classical, compact way to reproduce the source’s polite imperative (“ふれて下さい”) while staying in bungo register.

The lower phrase’s invitation to “read with heart/body” aligns with well‑studied Japanese religious idioms of mind–body unity (身心一如／心身一如) that inform martial arts discourse; cf. treatments in religious‑studies and psychology of budō.

Kotodama—the idea that words carry a spiritual potency—has a long history in Shintō thought and helps explain why orthography/phonology (“音韻を主として”) would matter in a spiritual pedagogy associated with Ueshiba. Hardacre offers a concise scholarly description of kotodama’s place in Shintō.

Ueshiba Morihei (Ō‑sensei/翁先生) is widely documented as framing aikidō in religious terms, with influences from Ōmoto‑kyō and related Shintō‑Buddhist currents; hence the editorial exhortation to eschew commentary and meet the truth through embodied practice is very much in character.