修行会

212「すの御言五十鈴の姿いろはうた大地の上を正すさむはら。」- 植芝盛平

Original Waka

すの御言
五十鈴の姿
いろはうた
大地の上を
正すさむはら

植芝盛平 (Ueshiba, 1977)

Translation

“Su’s august word(s), Isuzu’s manifestation, Iroha song—Great Earth’s surface, rectified—Samuhara.” — Ueshiba Morihei

Waka Translation

Su’s own august word(s),
Isuzu’s own arrangement,
the Iroha song—

great earth’s own topography,
set right by samuhara.

植芝盛平

歴史的仮名遣い（語構成を明示）

スの御言（すのみこと）
五十鈴の姿（いすずのすがた）
伊呂波歌 （いろはうた）
大地の上を（だいちのうえを）
正すサムハラ（ただすさむはら）¹

植芝盛平

Bungo Romanization

Su no mikoto
Isuzu no sugata
Iroha uta

daichi no ue o
tadasu Samuhara

Ueshiba Morihei

Notes:

¹ Katakana ス foregrounds the kotodama vowel; サムハラ is conventionally written in katakana because the “divine characters” are esoteric (Samuhara Jinja, n.d.).

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

Ueshiba, M. (2025). 植芝盛平道歌–212: Sacred word “su” (L. G. N. R. Space-Coyote, Trans.; OpenAI ChatGPT-5 Pro, Ed.). Shugyokai.org. https://shugyokai.org/zawt (Original work published 1977)

す / ス（su）— not the everyday syllable but the kotodama SU: the primordial sound from which the cosmos unfolds in Ōmoto and Ueshiba’s own teaching, often equated with the “Word” (Logos) of creation (Goldsboro, 2012). From 大天主太神 (おおもとすめおおみかみ; oomoto-sume-oomikami), the great origin govern[ing] kami (Ōmoto, 2025).

御言（みこと; mikoto）— literally “august word(s) / decree / speech”, “divine utterance” also echoing Christian “Word of God” in Ueshiba’s rhetoric.（名／呪詞的語形）+ の（格助詞・連体修飾）+ 御言（名；みこと “august / divine utterance”）→ su no mikoto “the august word su.” (For 御言 ‘mikoto’ as ‘august utterance / decree,’ see standard dictionaries).

すの御言（すのみこと; su no mikoto）— “the divine Word Su”, “the divine utterance of Su” (i.e., the creative speech of the primal kami); in Aikidō founder Ueshiba’s idiom, su is the primal kotodama sound, the “seed‑utterance” at creation.

五十鈴（いすず; isuzu）— literally “fifty bells” but in kotodama discourse this can signify the fifty‑sound system (五十音) of Japanese as a microcosm of the universe, each sound being a kami (Asuka Jinja Sūkei Kai, 2021); simultaneously evokes Isuzu River and Isuzu Shrine at Ise, tapping classical Shinto geography.

の（no）— genitive.

姿（すがた; sugata）— “form”, “configuration”, “manifestation”.

五十鈴の姿 鈴（いすずのすがた; isuzu no sugata）— “the form of Isuzu”; Isuzu here alludes to Ise Jingū’s Isuzu River and, by kotodama resonance, to “fifty bells.”; Ise Jingū, n.d.).

いろはうた（iroha uta）— 名；伊呂波）+ うた（名）→ iroha uta “the Iroha poem / song”; the Iroha is the Heian‑period pangram used for ordering all kana, once each, long used for mnemonic sequencing; it can symbolize the complete articulation of sound [known at the time; in Japanese]; Ueshiba and other kotodama theorists treat Iroha, the gojūon charts, and various numeric chants (ひふみ祝詞 etc.) as sonic maps of the cosmos (Shimida, 1995/2005).

大地の上（だいちのうえ; daichi no ue）— “the surface of the great earth” (i.e., the manifest world of human history and society); 大地（名）+ の（格助詞）+ 上（名）.

を（o）— object marker.

大地の上を（だいちのうえを; daichi no ue o）— “the surface of the earth” as direct object (を) of the verb to follow.

正す（ただす; tadasu）— “to correct, rectify, straighten, set right” both morally and physically — very resonant with aiki as realigning body, ki, and cosmos (Kudo & Shishida, 2010).

さむはら / サムハラ（samuhara）— four‑character talismanic formula (written with peculiar “secret” characters) believed to protect against harm, especially injury and bullets; Edo‑period essays already treat it as a fuji (符字, magical character‑cluster; Watanabe, 2012); Ueshiba noted that it is a word that “praises the highest virtue and meritorious achievement in the world” 「サムハラとは、世の最高の徳と功しを称えた言葉であります」(Takahashi, 1986, p. 33).

正すさむはら（ただすさむはら; tadasu samuhara）— 正す “set straight / rectify” + さむはら “Samuhara” as Shintō sacred name / incantation connected with the primordial triad (Ame‑no‑Minakanushi, Takamimusubi, Kamimusubi); as an utterance, Samuhara itself performs purification/aversion of disaster—here, the power that “sets straight”; 正す（四段活用・終止形＝連体形）+ さむはら（名／感動詞的な呪詞 samuhara）→ tadasu samuhara (i.e. “Samuhara sets [it] right / let it be made right, Samuhara”.

Waka frame. The 31‑mora 5–7–5 // 7–7 structure with a clear kami‑no‑ku / shimo‑no‑ku division follows classical waka practice.

Particles & case. Genitive の linking nominal compounds (五十鈴の姿／大地の上) and accusative を marking the object (上を) are textbook bungo syntax.

Verb shape. The yodan verb 正す in 終止形 (=連体形 for yodan) fits premodern inflectional paradigms; placing it before the incantation gives either a conclusive reading (“[it] rectifies”) or an imperative nuance by performative overlap—both acceptable in waka and norito‑like diction. 

Kotodama register. Treating ス (su) as a sacred vowel and サムハラ as a shingō aligns with premodern kotodama ideologies and with Ueshiba’s Omoto‑inflected spirituality (misogi, norito, sound‑mysticism). 

Classical spellings. Using 伊呂波歌 for Iroha uta and katakana for shingō echoes premodern conventions; the Iroha itself is a Heian pangram used for order and “complete” phonological coverage—apt for a poem about rectifying the world through sound. 

Toponymy as ritual space. 五十鈴 anchors the poem in the Ise sacred precincts (Uji Bridge, purification at Isuzu), a locus classicus of classical waka symbolism and Shintō practice. 

Waka poetics. The poem’s compressed diction and upper/lower turn sit squarely in the waka tradition, where 5–7–5 articulates a premise or image and 7–7 provides the turn/resolve. (Classical description in Brower & Miner.)

Ise & purification. Invoking Isuzu (Ise Jingū) conjures purification at the threshold (Uji Bridge, ablutions at the river), an archetype of moving from the profane to the sacred—fitting the theme of “straightening” the world.

Kotodama and Omoto/Aikidō. Ueshiba consistently frames aikidō as cosmic harmonization achieved through kotodama—sacred utterance—and misogi. The Iroha gestures to the total field of sounds; Samuhara names a triad of primal deities (Ame‑no‑Minakanushi, Takamimusubi, Kamimusubi) whose power averts calamity and rectifies disorder. The resulting reading—“the primal Word ‘su,’ seen as the resonant ‘Isuzu’ form and as the Iroha’s full alphabet of sounds, rectifies the earth through the name Samuhara”—matches both Shintō symbolic geography and Ueshiba’s religious language.

Buddhism and the Nirvana Sutra. The iroha poem, originally attributed to Kūkai, the founder of Shingon Buddhism, yet now dated later in the Heian period, is a perfect pangram appearing in 金光明最勝王経音義 (Readings of Golden Light Sutra).

Anthropology of incantation. In Japanese religious practice, norito and incantations (kaji‑kito) are performative language acts meant to purify, avert disaster, and set things right—exactly the force attributed here to “Samuhara.” (See Blacker on shamanic/ritual speech acts; see also primers on norito.)

Shugyokai note. This is important for appreciation and seeing the principle, applies to limitless languages past, present, and yet to come. Yoin… amidst zanshin…