35「誠をば更に誠に練り上げて顕幽一如の真諦を知れ。」- 植芝盛平

Original Dōka

誠をば
更に誠に
練り上げて
顕幽一如
真諦を知れ

植芝盛平 (Ueshiba, 1977)

Translation

“As for makoto: refine it into yet truer makoto, knead and raise it—manifest-hidden are one—the ultimate truth—know it!” – Ueshiba Morihei

Waka Translation

As for makoto:
further—into makoto
knead and raise it—

manifest-hidden are one—
the ultimate truth—know it!


Ueshiba Morihei

歴史的仮名遣い(語構成を明示)

誠をば(まことをば)
更に誠に(さらにまことに)

練り上げて(ねりあげて)
顯幽一如(けんゆういちにょ)
眞諦を知れ(しんたいをしれ)

植芝盛平

Bungo Romanization

makoto [w]oba
sara ni makoto ni
neri agete
ken’yū ichinyo
shintai o shire


Ueshiba Morihei

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

Ueshiba, M. (2025). 植芝盛平道歌–035: Still truer makoto (L. G. N. R. Space-Coyote, Trans.; OpenAI ChatGPT-5 Pro, Ed.). Shugyokai.org. https://shugyokai.org/49t2 (Original work compiled 1977)

(まこと; makoto)— more than “sincerity”, makoto is a core Shintō / Bushidō virtue signifying truthful heart-mind and straightness of intent; Ueshiba often treats makoto as both ethical sincerity and ontological “rightness”, the inner condition that harmonizes with the world; in Shintōmakoto is a core virtue: sincerity / a heart “free of falsehood”; note that classically, mako counts と (“to”) as separate.

をば (oba)— classical emphatic object marker = を + 係助詞 は (濁音化「ば」); foregrounds the object for focus and rhythm; widely used in premodern prose / poetry.

誠をば更に誠に(まことをばさらにまことに; makoto o‑ba sara ni makoto ni)— “sincerity (makoto) then even more to sincerity” — emphasizes deepening the quality of sincerity.

練り上げて(ねりあげて; neri agete)— ren’yōkei + て connective: “by repeatedly tempering / refining (it) ….” (classical connective usage); “to temper / polish / knit up” (as with steel or kneaded paste)—a standard metaphor for disciplined refinement of character and practice.The verb evokes forging steel or working lacquer: repeated discipline (tanren) that purifies and concentrates makoto; “to forge / temper / knead up”, i.e., to refine, work repeatedly, perfect.

顕幽一如(けんゆういちにょ; ken’yū ichinyo) — “the manifest (顕 / utsushiyo / visible) and the hidden (幽 / kakuriyo / invisible) are non‑dual (one‑suchness; Fukui, n.d.; Nishioka, n.d.)”; Nishioka (n.d.) marks the utsushiyo / kakuriyo pair and even glosses 幽顕 as “deities and human beings”, capturing the visible–invisible continuum; “the manifest and the hidden are one suchness”; a nondual formula from medieval Japanese thought (Shintō–Buddhist syncretism) asserting continuity between the seen world and the unseen / spiritual realm, human / divine, and form / spirit.

顕幽一如の(けんゆういちにょの; ken’yū ichinyo no) — “of manifest and hidden (visible and invisible) as one”, a Buddhist / Taoist or Shin-Shū / Ōmoto concept: the visible and the invisible realms unified.

真諦(しんたい; shintai)— “ultimate truth” (Buddhist paramārtha-satya), the deeper reality apprehended when one’s makoto is fully cultivated. As opposed to conventional truth. Ueshiba blends Shintō makoto with Buddhist vocabulary to urge a realization in which ethical sincerity matures into insight: the unity of the visible and invisible orders.

知れ(しれ; shire)— gives an exhortative tone.

真諦を知れ(しんたいをしれ; shintai o shire)— “know the true principle (shintai)”; 真諦 (shintai) is a Buddhist term meaning the ultimate truth, real principle or reality.

Kakekotoba on Makoto. The repeated まこと (“sincerity; truth”) naturally splits as ま + こと, inviting the canonical waka pivot on こと that toggles among “word / matter / koto (instrument)”. In performance, 誠をば…誠に lets こと ring twice, so the poem simultaneously urges (i) the refining of real matters (事), (ii) the purification of our words (言) (an echo of 言霊), and (iii) the disciplined tuning of the koto (琴) as emblem for artful cultivation. The “こと cluster” is among the most standard kakekotoba families in classical poetry (cf. Miner, Odagiri, & Morrell, 1985; c.f. Shirane, 2007; c.f. Sugimoto, 2017).

Kakekotoba on refining into more makoto. In 更に誠に練り上げて, 誠に can be heard simultaneously as an adverb (“truly”) and as a case phrase (“into sincerity”). This is a classical kind of pivot / kakekotoba that rides grammar as much as lexeme: the ambiguity intensifies the exhortation—“truly refine it” and “refine it into sincerity.” (cf. Shirane, 2005/2008; cf. Komai & Rohlich, 1983/1988). Spoken ねり covers both 練(kneading / artful polish)and 錬(metallurgical tempering → tanren 鍛錬); both are central metaphors in budō training. Hearing both senses compresses “moral cultivation” and “body / steel forging” into one verb.

Kakekotoba on shintai. Ueshiba’s syncretic discourse (Buddhist–Shintō–martial) lets しんたい resonate three ways: “know the ultimate truth,” while also “recognizing the divine body (shintai)” and “this very body.” Within 顕幽一如 (“manifest / hidden are one”), the triple pun fuses doctrine, shrine-object, and the trainee’s body—a dense kakekotoba typical of modern waka-like aphorisms drawing on Sino-Japanese homophones. For 真諦, see Buddhist reference dictionaries; for 神体, see Shintō studies; 身体 needs no gloss. (c.f. Buswell & Lopez, 2014; c.f. Hardacre, 2017; c.f. Britannica, 2025; c.f. Mertz et al., 2022).

Kun-Euphony as allusive pivot. Although 顕幽一如(けんゆういちにょ)scans in on-yomi (けんゆう), classical recitation easily lets 顕 echo its kun-reading あらは(す/る) “to reveal / make manifest”. That kun-echo, heard under the on-yomi surface, sets up a micro‑pivot with 幽 (“hidden”), so the phrase itself performs the act of revealing the hidden as we say “顕”. This is more allusive pivoting than a strict kakekotoba, but it operates the same paronomastic pressure Heian poetics cultivated (i.e., ambiguity invited by hearing / KANA). (Miner, Odagiri, & Morrell, 1985; Shirane, 2007). For the doctrinal use of 顕幽一如 (“the unity of the manifest and the spirit worlds”), see studies of new religions and Shintō discourse. (Nanzan NIRC paper; Shinnyo‑en / kan’nagara expositions).

Classical particles and morphology. Using をば (focus‑marked accusative) and the imperative 知れ matches bungo usage and tone.

Kyūjitai & kanbun‑style compounds. Keeping 顯幽一如/眞諦 preserves the Sino‑Buddhist register characteristic of premodern diction.

31‑mora discipline via ellipsis. Dropping the genitive の before 「真諦」 is a standard waka tactic; ellipsis and particle suppression are well‑documented devices for meeting 5‑7‑5‑7‑7 while intensifying compression.

Connective chaining. The ren’yōkei + て chain (“…練り上げて…知れ”) typifies classical hypotaxis linking action and admonition.

Term fidelity. I keep makoto untranslated in L1–L2 for precision—“sincerity” is close but lacks Shintō valence; the gloss is given in notes.

Doctrinal precision. “Ultimate truth” explicitly renders 真諦 in the two‑truths framework; “manifest and hidden worlds” makes 顕/幽 legible without losing the 一如 non‑duality.

Cultural framing. Ueshiba’s dōka often braid Shintō ethics and Buddhist metaphysics in brief devotional meters. Here 誠(makoto)— a Shintō cardinal virtue—is something one refines (練り上げて) through practice until one realizes 顕幽一如, the unity of visible and invisible realms. Makoto in Shintō sources denotes a heart “free of falsehood”, aligning with O‑Sensei’s lifelong emphasis on purification and right intention.

Hidden and manifest. The “visible / invisible” pairing traces to Shintō cosmology as 現世/顕世(うつしよ) vs. 幽世・隠世(かくりよ), a contrast Nishioka (n.d.) explicitly treats; the same article even glosses 幽顕 as “kami and humans”—two registers of one continuum—which makes Ueshiba’s 一如 (“non‑dual”) entirely idiomatic.

Ultimate truth. At the same time, 真諦 is a Buddhist technical term (Skt. paramārtha-satya), paired with saṃvṛti-satya (“conventional truth”). Reading the verse as an admonition— “refine makoto until you realize non‑duality and know the ultimate truth”—tracks mainstream accounts of the two truths.

Ōmoto. Specialists also read Ueshiba’s dōka inside the founder’s religious entanglements (e.g., Ōmoto inspiration, misogi, kotodama) and the broader martial‑spiritual habitus. Aikidō-historical treatments and entries on dōka detail these connections and the devotional tone of the poems.

Shugyōkai note. Note that effects of manifest and hidden cross-references with simultaneous readings of 「て」 in 植芝盛平道歌–038: Right hand in sunlight (Ueshiba, 1977/2025).

Cross-references. OMLC Doka 10

解説

このページの第35首は「誠をば/更に誠に/練り上げて/顕幽一如/真諦を知れ」――口語にすれば「まことを、もっと「まこと」へと鍛え直し、〈見えるもの(顕)と見えないもの(幽)が一つ〉という本当の道理(真諦)を知れ」という訓戒だよ。ここで誠(makoto)は単なる「誠実」以上で、虚偽のなさ・意志の直さをもつ神道的徳目として説明され、練り上げては鋼や漆を丹錬する隠喩――反復の修練で誠を濃くしていくことを示す(ページ注)。さらに顕幽一如は〈現れの世界=顕/隠れの世界=幽〉が本来一体だという古来の枠組みで、真諦は仏教語の「究極真理(paramārtha‑satya)」に当たる語、結語の知れが強い勧告の調子を担っている。

植芝の六つのプライマーで張った縦糸に通すと、構図はこうまとまる。プライマーの第一原理〈武=宇宙原理〉は、「誠を濃くするほど世界(顕・幽)との整合が高まる」という座標を与え、プライマーの第二原理〈人との合気〉は顕(対人のふるまい)を、プライマーの第三原理〈心魂一如〉は幽(内奥)を受け持つ――それらが一如に結び直されるのが本首の核心だ。プライマーの第四原理〈和合美化〉は「磨き上げられた誠」が美へ収束するテロスを担い、プライマーの第五原理〈体=道場、心=修業者/修行者心/学び手〉は練り上げを日々の最小単位に落とす運用図になる。プライマーの第六原理〈「至愛」の源に順う〉は、この真諦(ultimate truth)を倫理の北極星として測る拠りどころだ――誠の錬成 → 顕幽の一如 → 真諦の体得という階段を、このページはひと息で言い切っている。

直前の三首ともきれいに糸が戻る。第32首が「武術=御姿と御心」で形(顕)と心(幽)の二層を提示し、第33首が「刃ではなく『人(手)』=起点を見る」と視線の誠を定め、第34首が「姿を囮に背後で結ぶ」と顕/幽の運用を具体化した。その上で第35首は、それらの手筋を「誠をさらに誠へ」という内的丹錬にまとめ、顕と幽は本来ひとつだという認識の芯(真諦)へ引き上げる章だ――稽古でチェックすべきは、所作(顕)と動機・息(幽)がズレずに一つで動いているか、その整合度=誠の濃さだと、このページは教えてくれる。

口語要約のひとこと

「誠ってものを、さらに誠へと練り上げて、見える世界と見えない世界は一つだっていう本当の道理を知ろう。」

発話行為理論

オースティン(Austin, 1962)の三層でこの首を読むと、まず発話内容(locutionary)は「誠をば/更に誠に/練り上げて/顕幽一如/真諦を知れ」という言表の意味内容そのものになる。ただし、その意味は平板ではない。誠をば の をば が対象を前へ押し出し、更に誠に が「さらに真実に」と「誠へと」の両義で響き、練り上げて が練と錬を重ねて丹錬と修養を一つに畳む。上の句と下の句の「折り」で見るなら、一・二句の誠の深まりが四句の顕幽一如へ折り返され、三句の練り上げて は五句の真諦を知れ に照応する。だからこの首の言っていることは、「誠を濃く鍛えることによって、顕と幽が本来ひとつである真諦へ達せよ」という一本の命題でありながら、同時に こと(言・事・琴)や しんたい(真諦・神体・身体)の掛詞で多層化された命題でもある。

そのうえで発話内行為(illocutionary)の核は、やはり結句の 知れ にある。ここで起きているのは単なる教義の説明ではなく、修行へ向けた勧告・督励だ。オースティン的には、内容に 勢力(force) が与えられたとき、発話は「何を言ったか」から「何をしたか」へ移るが、この首ではその力が をば の焦点化と 練り上げて の連用中止によって高められている。三句目に切れ字そのものが立つというより、そこで切れに近い宙吊りが生まれ、その圧が五句の 知れ で命令的に着地するわけだ。だから顕幽一如は、叙述された 理論(doctrine)である前に、稽古と存在の向きを矯める忠告的(admonitory) / 執行型(exercitive) な働きとして鳴っている。

そして発話媒介行為(perlocutionary)は、その勧告が引き起こそうとする作用になる。保証された結果ではないけれど、狙われているのは、顕=見える所作と幽=見えない心息との裂け目をそのままにしておけなくなるような内的圧だろう。まこと の反復が 言・事・琴 へひらき、しんたい の響きが 真諦・神体・身体 を一つの軸へ寄せることで、教義は頭の中に留まらず、言葉と行と身体の配置そのものへ沈んでいく。要するにこの首は、非二元を説明して終わる道歌ではなく、誠をさらに誠へと練り直したくなる気分と方向を発生させるための道歌なんだ。

伝統的和歌技法からみる道歌の多層的構造

本作の道歌には、先行研究で指摘されている「掛詞(こと・しんたい)」や「訓の響きによる微分的転換(顕→あらはす)」以外にも、古典和歌・短歌の正統な修辞技法が緊密に張り巡らされている。これらが重層的に機能することで、植芝盛平の直感的な宇宙観が三十一文字の精緻な詩的構造へと昇華している。

第一に注目すべきは、語彙間の意味的照応を生み出す縁語(えんご)の配置である。上の句の「練り上げて(素材を純化・均一化し、強固に結合させる行為)」は、下の句の「一如(二元的な世界の融合)」および「真諦(結晶化された究極の真理)」と潜在的な領域を共有している。つまり、鍛錬という身体的アプローチ(練)が、そのまま宇宙的真理の体得(一如・真諦)へとダイレクトに繋がるという動線が、言葉の選択の時点で必然的に方向付けられている。

第二に、詩的な緊張感と展開を司る句切れ(くぎれ)の構造である。本首は三句の結び(練り上げて)の連用中止によって、意味・リズム上の劇的な中継ぎ(あるいは実質的な三句切れ)を構成している。一・二・三句が「誠の深化を目指す動的な修行プロセス」を条件的に提示するのに対し、四・五句は「顕幽一如という静的かつ絶対的な宇宙の真実在」へとダイレクトに飛躍する。連用中止形(て)による宙吊りの緊張感が、四句の重厚な漢語(顕幽一如)の出現によって劇的な展開(コントラスト)を生むという、古典短歌の劇的効果が美しく再現されている。

第三に、音韻論的な快感と推進力をもたらす音声技法、とりわけ音便(おんびん)と頭韻・子音の連鎖である。「練り上げて(neri-agete)」に見られる滑らかな連用形の接続(音便)は、言霊の響きに滞りない流動性を与え、そのまま武産合気(たけむすあいき)の淀みない体捌きを聴覚的に擬する。さらに、初句から二句にかけて展開する「誠をば/更に誠に」というマ行(M音)の反復(頭韻的効果)は、朗詠において深い内省と厳かな静謐さを醸し出す。この心地よいマ行の響きから、結句の「真諦を知れ(shintai o shire)」という鋭い破裂音・弾音への移行が、読者の意識を覚醒させる強い勧告の力(force)を生むのである。

第四に、和歌における伝統的な語彙の格差、すなわち和語(大和言葉)と漢語の配置(コントラスト)の妙である。上の句(一〜三句):「誠をば更に誠に練り上げて」——すべて固有の和語(大和言葉)で構成され、有機的で泥臭く、職人的な「身体感覚」と「日々の行い」を象徴する。下の句(四〜五句):「顕幽一如真諦を知れ」——重厚な仏教・東洋哲学的「漢語」が突如として乱入し、次元を超越した「形而上学的な真理」を宣言する。

この大和言葉から漢語へのダイナミックなレジスターの転換こそが、まさに「日々の稽古(身体)」を「宇宙原理(魂)」へと直結させるという植芝の思想そのものを、構造的に自己表現している。

最後に、これらすべてを包括する構造的平行法(対比構造)が挙げられる。「更に誠に(個の内的誠実を濃くする)」というミクロの深化は、そのまま「顕幽一如(大宇宙の非二元)」というマクロの調和の雛形となっている。自己の誠を練り上げることと、宇宙の真理を知ることは相似形(フラクタル)であるという直感が、この三十一文字の詩的対称性のなかに完全に担保されているのである。

コーダ

この一首が最後に示すのは、誠とは一度獲得して終わる徳ではなく、さらに誠へ、なお誠へと練り直されつづける生成の力だということである。誠は静止した内面の状態ではない。言葉に現れ、所作に現れ、息づかいに現れ、そして見えない動機の深みに沈んでいる。その顕れと隠れとが分裂しないとき、はじめて誠は「濃く」なる。

だから、顕幽一如とは遠い形而上学の命題ではなく、稽古のただ中で試される最も具体的な尺度でもある。身体が先走り、心が遅れるなら、顕と幽はまだ別れている。正しい形を装っても、内奥の意図が濁っていれば、誠はまだ練り足りない。反対に、呼吸・動機・姿勢・接触が一つの流れに澄むとき、見える技は見えない心のそのままの形となり、見えない心は見える技の中に宿る。

この意味で「真諦を知れ」とは、知識として非二元を理解せよ、という命令にとどまらない。それは、身体を通して、言葉を通して、他者との間合いを通して、誠が誠として立ち上がるところまで自分を練れ、という促しである。知るとは、頭に置くことではなく、身に通すことだ。真諦は説明されるものではなく、誠が十分に練り上げられたとき、稽古の場にそのまま露わになる。

ゆえにこの道歌の結びは、始まりへ戻る。誠をば、更に誠に。完成ではなく、再鍛錬。到達ではなく、深化。見えるものと見えないもの、言葉と事、心と体、自己と宇宙――それらを分けたまま扱うところから、ひとつの働きとして生きるところへ。この一首は、その転換を三十一音の中に圧縮し、読者をもう一度、日々の稽古へ送り返している。

English Translation

Commentary

The 35th poem on this page is: “誠をば/更に誠に/練り上げて/顕幽一如/真諦を知れ”. Put into colloquial language, it is an admonition along these lines: “Take makoto — truthfulness, sincerity, the real thing — and temper it still further into makoto; know the true principle that ‘the visible world, ken, and the invisible world, , are one.’” Here, makoto is explained as more than simple “honesty.” It is a Shintō virtue marked by the absence of falsehood and the straightness of will. Neriagete, “to knead, temper, refine, and bring to completion,” works as a metaphor drawn from the forging of steel or the repeated polishing and refinement of lacquer: through repeated discipline, one makes makoto denser and more fully realized, as the page note explains. Kenyū ichinyo names an old framework in which the manifest world, ken, and the hidden world, , are originally one. Shintai here corresponds to the Buddhist term “ultimate truth,” paramārtha-satya, and the closing imperative, shire — “know it” — carries the force of a strong exhortation.

If we thread this through the warp stretched out by Ueshiba’s six primers, the composition comes together like this. The first primer principle, “bu as cosmic principle,” gives the coordinates: the denser one’s makoto becomes, the more one comes into alignment with the world, both visible and hidden. The second primer principle, “aiki with others,” takes charge of ken, the manifest realm of interpersonal conduct. The third primer principle, “mind and soul as one,” takes charge of , the inner depths. The heart of this poem is that these are bound back together as ichinyo, “one suchness.” The fourth primer principle, “harmonizing and beautifying,” carries the telos by which “polished makoto” converges into beauty. The fifth primer principle, “the body as dojo, the mind as practitioner / the practitioner’s heart / the learner,” becomes an operating diagram that brings neriage, this refining process, down into the smallest units of daily practice. The sixth primer principle, “following the source of supreme love,” is the ground by which this shintai, this ultimate truth, is measured as the north star of ethics. In one breath, this page says the whole staircase: the forging of makoto → the oneness of visible and hidden → the embodied realization of ultimate truth.

The threads also return neatly to the three poems immediately before it. Poem 32 presented the two layers of form and heart — ken and — through “martial art = divine form and divine heart.” Poem 33 fixed the gaze of makoto by saying to look not at the blade but at the “person / hand” as the point of origin. Poem 34 made the working of ken and concrete: use the visible form as a lure, while joining things behind it. Then, on top of all that, Poem 35 gathers those techniques into an inner refining: “make makoto still more makoto.” It lifts them toward the core recognition, the shintai, that manifest and hidden are originally one. What we are meant to check in practice, this page teaches, is whether outward movement, ken, and inward motive and breath, , are moving as one without slipping apart. That degree of alignment is the density of makoto.

One-line colloquial summary

“Take this thing called makoto, refine it even further into makoto, and come to know the real principle that the visible world and the invisible world are one.”

The multilayered structure of dōka from the perspective of traditional waka techniques

In addition to the kakekotoba (pivotal words / koto-shintai) and the “differential transformation through the resonance of kun readings (showing → arawasu)” pointed out in previous research, the dōka in this work is tightly interwoven with the orthodox rhetorical techniques of classical waka and tanka. As these techniques function in a multilayered manner, Ueshiba Morihei’s intuitive worldview is sublimated into a precise, 31-syllable poetic structure.

First, worthy of attention is the placement of engo (associated words) that create semantic correspondences between vocabulary items. “Keri-agete” (the act of refining, homogenizing, and firmly bonding materials) in the upper hemistich (kami-no-ku) shares a latent domain with “ichinyo” (the fusion of the dualistic world) and “shintai” (the crystallized ultimate truth) in the lower hemistich (shimo-no-ku). In other words, a line of flow wherein the physical approach of training (neri) connects directly to the realization of cosmic truth (ichinyo / shintai) is inevitably directed right from the stage of word choice.

Second is the structure of kugire (caesura), which governs poetic tension and development. By utilizing the suspended continuative form (ren’yō-chūshi) at the conclusion of the third line (neri-agete), this poem constructs a dramatic semantic and rhythmic bridge—effectively functioning as a structural caesura (sanku-gire). While the first, second, and third lines conditionally present a “dynamic training process aiming for the deepening of sincerity,” the fourth and fifth lines leap directly into a “static and absolute cosmic reality wherein the manifest and hidden are one (ken’yū ichinyo).” The dramatic effect of classical tanka is beautifully reproduced here, where the suspended tension caused by the continuative conjunctive form (te) creates a dramatic development (contrast) through the appearance of the heavy Sino-Japanese compound (ken’yū ichinyo) in the fourth line.

Third are the phonetic techniques that bring about phonological pleasure and momentum—specifically, onbin (euphonic change) and the chaining of alliteration and consonants. The smooth connection of the continuative form (onbin) seen in “neri-agete” gives an unimpeded fluidity to the resonance of the kotodama (spirit of language), auditorily mimicking the fluid body movements of Takemusu Aiki just as they are. Furthermore, the repetition of the M-line (the “M” sound) in “makoto wo ba / sara ni makoto ni,” which develops from the first to the second line, creates an effect of alliteration that evokes deep introspection and solemn tranquility during recitation. From this pleasant M-line resonance, the transition to the sharp plosives and flaps of the concluding line, “shintai o shire,” generates a powerful force of admonition that awakens the reader’s consciousness.

Fourth is the exquisite arrangement (contrast) of traditional vocabulary disparities in waka—namely, native Japanese words (wago / Yamato-kotoba) and Sino-Japanese words (kango). The upper kami-no-ku (Lines 1–3): “Makoto wo ba sara ni makoto ni neri-agete” — Composed entirely of native Yamato-kotoba, it is organic, earthy, and symbolizes a craftsman-like “physical sensation” and “daily practice.” The lower shimo-no-ku (Lines 4–5): “Ken’yū ichinyo shintai o shire” — Heavy Buddhist and Eastern philosophical kango suddenly intrude, declaring a “metaphysical truth” that transcends dimensions.

This dynamic shift in register from Yamato-kotoba to kango structurally self-expresses Ueshiba’s very philosophy of directly linking “daily training (the body)” to “cosmic principles (the spirit).”

Finally, there is the structural parallelism (contrastive structure) that encompasses all of the above. The micro-deepening of “sara ni makoto ni” (intensifying the sincerity within the individual) serves directly as a template for the macro-harmony of “ken’yū ichinyo” (the non-duality of the macrocosm). The intuition that refining one’s own sincerity and knowing the truth of the universe are isomorphic (fractal) is perfectly secured within the poetic symmetry of these 31 syllables.

Speech Act Theory

Reading this poem through Austin’s three layers of speech act theory, first there is the locutionary act: the meaning-content of the utterance itself — “誠をば/更に誠に/練り上げて/顕幽一如/真諦を知れ”.

But that meaning is not flat. The particle woba in makoto woba pushes the object forward into focus. Sara ni makoto ni resonates in two ways at once: “still more truly” and “into makoto itself.” Neriagete folds together neru, to knead or refine, and ren / tanren, to forge and discipline, so that tempering and moral cultivation become one act. If we look at the “turn” between the upper and lower phrases, the deepening of makoto in the first and second lines turns back into kenyū ichinyo in the fourth line, while the third line, neriagete, answers to the fifth line, shintai o shire — “know the ultimate truth.” So what this poem says is one clean proposition: “By forging makoto into greater density, arrive at the ultimate truth that ken and , manifest and hidden, are originally one.” At the same time, though, that proposition is made multi-layered through wordplay around koto — word, thing/event, and koto as instrument — and shintai — ultimate truth, divine body, and physical body.

On that basis, the core of the illocutionary act is, unsurprisingly, in the final phrase: shire, “know it.” What is happening here is not merely an explanation of doctrine. It is an admonition, an exhortation toward practice. In Austin’s terms, once a certain force is given to the content, the utterance moves from “what was said” to “what was done.” In this poem, that force is heightened by the focusing effect of woba and by the suspended continuative form of neriagete. It is not exactly that a formal cutting word appears in the third line; rather, something close to a cut opens there as a suspended pressure, and that pressure lands imperatively in the fifth line with shire. So kenyū ichinyo is sounding less as a stated doctrine than as an admonitory, exercitive act that corrects the orientation of both practice and existence.

And the perlocutionary act is the effect that this exhortation tries to bring about. It is not a guaranteed result, but what the poem seems to aim for is an inward pressure that makes it impossible to leave the split between ken, visible movement, and , invisible mind-breath, as it is. The repetition of makoto opens into koto as word, deed/event, and resonance; the sound of shintai draws ultimate truth, divine body, and physical body onto a single axis. Through that, the doctrine does not remain in the head. It sinks into the very arrangement of words, action, and body. In other words, this is not a dōka, a Way-poem, that merely explains nonduality and stops there. It is a dōka meant to generate the feeling and direction of wanting to temper makoto again — to make it still more truly makoto.

Coda

What this poem finally discloses is that makoto is not a virtue one possesses once and for all. It is a generative force that must be refined again into makoto, and then again still further. Makoto is not a static inner condition. It appears in words, in movement, in breath, and in the hidden depth of intention. Only when the manifest and the hidden no longer split apart does makoto become dense.

For that reason, kenyū ichinyo is not merely a distant metaphysical proposition. It is also the most concrete measure tested in practice. If the body rushes ahead while the heart lags behind, ken and remain divided. If correct form is displayed while the inner intention is clouded, makoto has not yet been sufficiently tempered. But when breath, motive, posture, and contact clarify into a single current, visible technique becomes the very shape of invisible mind, and invisible mind comes to dwell within visible technique.

In this sense, “know the ultimate truth” is more than an instruction to understand nonduality as doctrine. It is an exhortation to refine oneself until makoto rises as makoto through the body, through speech, and through the interval between self and other. To know is not merely to hold something in the intellect. It is to let it pass through the body. Ultimate truth is not simply explained; when makoto has been fully tempered, it appears directly in the field of practice.

Thus the ending of the dōka returns us to its beginning: makoto woba, sara ni makoto ni — take makoto and refine it still further into makoto. Not completion, but renewed forging. Not arrival, but deepening. The visible and the invisible, word and deed, mind and body, self and cosmos: the poem turns us away from treating these as separate things and toward living them as one activity. In thirty-one sounds, it compresses that transformation and sends the reader back, once more, into daily keiko.

References

Aikido Journal. (2011, August 27). Doka 道歌 (entry).

Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. Oxford University Press.

Brower, R. H., & Miner, E. (1961). Japanese court poetry. Stanford University Press. 

Buswell, R. E., & Lopez, D. S. (2014). Paramārthasatya. In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. Retrieved October 12, 2025, from https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780190681159.001.0001/acref-9780190681159-e-3121

Carter, S. D. (Ed.). (1991). Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology. Stanford University Press.

Encyclopeadia Britannica. (2025). Shintai. In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved November 5, 2025, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/shintai

Fukui, Y. (n.d.). Kakuriyo. In Encyclopedia of Shinto. Kokugakuin University. Retrieved April 26, 2026, from https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=8997

Green, T. A., & Svinth, J. R. (Eds.). (2010). Martial arts of the world: An encyclopedia of history and innovation. ABC‑CLIO.

Hardacre, H. (2017). Shinto: A history. Oxford University Press.

JLearn. (n.d.). Meaning of 練る/煉る/錬る (neru). Retrieved November 5, 2025, from https://jlearn.net/Dictionary/Browse/1559140-neru-%E3%81%AD%E3%82%8B-%E7%85%89%E3%82%8B

Komai, A., & Rohlich, T. H. (1988). An introduction to classical Japanese. Nagoya University Press. (Original work published 1983)

Labrune, L. (2012). The phonology of Japanese. Oxford University Press. 

Mertz, M., Tazuru, S., Itō, S., & Bogel, C. J. (2022). A group of twelfth-century Japanese kami statues and considerations of material intentionality: Collaborative research among wood scientists and art historians. Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University, 7, 127–158. https://doi.org/10.5109/4843145

Mikiko, N. (1995). Magic and self‑cultivation in a new religion: The case of Shinnyoen (P. L. Swanson, Trans.). Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 22(3/4). https://www.jstor.org/stable/30234457 (Original work published 1993)

Miner, E., Odagiri, H., & Morrell, R. E. (1985). The Princeton companion to classical Japanese literature. Princeton University Press.

Nishioka, K. (n.d.a). Makoto. In Encyclopedia of Shintō [EOS]. Kokugakuin University. Retrieved October 12, 2025, from https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=8728

Nishioka, K. (n.d.b). Utsushiyo. In Encyclopedia of Shintō [EOS]. Kokugakuin University. Retrieved October 12, 2025, from https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9003

Nishioka, K. (n.d.c). Utsushiyo. In Encyclopedia of Shintō [EOS]. Kokugakuin University. Retrieved April 26, 2026, from https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9002

Pranin, S. (2002, Aug. 2). Morihei Ueshiba and Onisaburo Deguchi. Aikido Journal.

Shirane, H. (2005). Classical Japanese: A grammar. Columbia University Press. 

Shirane, H. (2007). Traditional Japanese literature: An anthology, beginnings to 1600 (2nd ed.). Columbia University Press.

Sugimoto, M. (2017). How a medieval monk-poet (Saigyô) and Japan became identified with ‘nature’. Asian Literature and Translation, 4(1), 73–95. https://doi.org/10.18573/j.2017.10130

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

Ueshiba, M. (2025). 植芝盛平道歌–038: Right hand in sunlight… (L. G. N. R. Space-Coyote, Trans.; OpenAI ChatGPT-5 Pro, Ed.). Shugyokai.org. https://shugyokai.org/mpie (Original work published 1977)

Vovin, A. (2003). A reference grammar of classical Japanese prose. RoutledgeCurzon. 

Appendix I: Change Modification Log

16 JUN 26 - Added Coda.
08 JUN 26 - Translated commentary to English; cleaned up some formatting; added commentary on additional poetic devices.
19 MAY 26 - Phase V Speech Acts (Austin, 1962) analysis added in Japanese.
29 MAR 26 - Added connectivity to 038.
15 JAN 26 - Phase V improvements on translation; utilizing back-and-forth critical translation steps; corrected Mikiko (1993/1995), Mertz et al. (2022), & Buswell & Lopez (2014) references.
21 DEC 25 - Phase V styling applied to waka.
08 DEC 25 - Corrected English quotes to Japanese quotes in Japanese commentary; back propagated English "Primer" to Japanese "プライマー" updates for Japanese readability.
05 NOV 25 - Phase IV completion; commentary added.
12 OCT 25 - Phase III completion.
14 APR 20 - Initial notes transferred.