修行会

36「又しても行詰るたびに思ふかないづとみづとの有難き道。」- 植芝盛平

Original Dōka

又しても
行詰るたびに
思ふかな
いづとみづとの
有難き道

植芝盛平 (Ueshiba, 1977)

Translation

“Yet again, whenever reaching an impasse, there is reflection, thinking—ahhh!—of Izo and Mizu paired, the numinously austere preciously blessed way [of thank you].” – Morihei Ueshiba

Waka Translation

And then yet again,
reaching dead ends through spacetime,
reflect, thinking… ah!

Izu and Mizu’s pairing,
the austerely gentle way.

Morihei Ueshiba

歴史的仮名遣い（語構成を明示）¹

又しても（またしても）
行詰るたび（ゆきづまるたび）
思ふかな（おもふかな）
いづとみづとの（いづとみづとの）

有難き道（ありがたきどう）

植芝盛平

Bungo Romanization

mata shite mo
yukizumaru tabi
omofu kana
Izu to Mizu to no
arigatakidō

Ueshiba Morihei

cVJML/cCCML Translation

“Yet again, whenever I reach an impasse, I think: ah—how blessed the Way of <Itsu|[to] emerge[d]> and <Mizu|water>.”

Notes

¹ Why scan 行詰るたび (dropping に)? The autograph line reads “…行詰るたびに思ふかな…”. To satisfy 31 mora without distorting sense, waka practice often trims light particles (に, は, etc.). Here たび alone (“on occasions when…”) is idiomatic in verse; the line keeps the conditional‑iterative sense while restoring the 7‑mora count in the kami‑no‑ku.

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

Ueshiba, M. (2025). 植芝盛平道歌–036: At dead ends, stern and gentle (L. G. N. R. Space-Coyote, Trans.; OpenAI ChatGPT-5 Pro, Ed.). Shugyokai.org. (Original work published 1977) https://shugyokai.org/gakv

又しても（またしても; mata shite mo）— mata “again” + conjunctive shite (linking) + focus/contrast particle mo.; “yet again,” “once more.”

又しても行詰るたびに（またしてもゆきづまるたび; mata shite mo yukizumaru tabi）— “whenever I get stuck again / hit a dead end.”

行詰る（ゆきづまる; yukizumaru）— literally “to go and become blocked,” “to hit an impasse”.

たび（たび; tabi）— kakekotoba of 旅 (tabi) journey or travel, and 度 (tabi) times or occasions (e.g., “each time,” “every time”). 

行詰るたび（ゆきづまるたび; yukizumaru tabi）— yukizumaru “to reach an impasse; to be at a dead end” (classical orthography 行詰る) + noun tabi “occasion / time(s)”.

思ふかな（おもふかな; omofu kana）— verb omofu “to think, feel, reflect” (終止 -u > -fu in bungo) + classical exclamatory final particle かな kana (exclamatory / pondering); reflective exclamation “I find myself thinking, ah…”; conveying a reflective “ah!” or “how truly…”; see studies of 終助詞; very often used as a kakekotoba (pivot word) with the word 負ふ (ofu) “to carry something on one’s back, to bear a burden, or to be burdened by something” which allows the poet to express the idea that the speaker is “bearing the burden” (負ふ) of their intense “feelings / yearning” (思ふ), often unrequited love or sorrow.

いづとみづ → 厳と瑞（いづとみづ; Izu to Mizu）— Itsu and Mizu; invokes Shinto / Ōmoto pair Itsu (厳, “austere, numinously strict”) and Mizu (瑞, “auspicious, beneficent”) + conjunctive to, genitive / associative no with quotational to; complementary aspects of the divine. In some Aikido exegesis, Itsu is linked to the vertical (warp / 経 / keii) axis and Mizu to the horizontal (weft / 緯 / iki) axis; linked to the two “souls” (厳の御魂 and 瑞の御魂), later folded into aikidō discourse; these crossings symbolizes cosmic balance and the Way (道); いづ と みづ are classical spellings for 出づ (“to come forth, emerge”) and 水 (“water”). Ueshiba is punning in a way familiar from classical Japanese poetics (kakekotoba): together they evoke 泉 (izumi, “spring”), literally “water that emerges”.

有（あり; ari）— have, possess, own; to exist, there is, to be, bring into existence; keep, maintain; happen, occur; “and, with a remainder of” in Classical Chinese.

難（がた; gata）— difficult; cognate with Tibetan མནར (mnar, “to suffer; suffering”); sense note: etymologically, suffer during time and place of initial translation of “dukkha” to English meant “to endure”, changing its flavour to cover the three endurings (三苦, sanku; e.g., enduring of enduring [苦苦; kuku; e.g., painful feeling], enduring of change [壊苦; ekku; e.g., enduring seeking[s] of improved feelings than present], and all pervasive enduring [行苦; gyōku; e.g., enduring becoming-begoing process[es]]).

有難し (ありがたし; arigatashi) → 有難 (arigata, stem). A ク活用 adjective (classical -shi adjective); 有り + 難し (“to exist” + “difficult”) ⇒ “difficult to exist” hence “rare; precious.” Rendaku accounts for kata- → gata- in arigata‑; rare; seldom found; exceptional; precious / admirable / noble (because rare); Difficult; hard; burdensome (incl. “life is hard”); Welcome; thankworthy; gracious (the semantic bridge toward gratitude). Late medieval–early modern sources show the shift that yields the interjection arigatō. The interjection ありがたう／有難う develops from the 連用形 ありがたく + polite verbs (e.g., 候ふ) with ウ音便 (-ku → -ū/-ō), and spreads as a thank‑you formula especially from the early modern period; by Edo it is common and later becomes the modern ありがとう; Classical texts write 有り難し／有難し or kana‑only ありがたし; 有難 by itself often labels the stem (not a Sino‑Japanese word). Treat 有難 as ateji for the native lexeme arigata‑.

道（みち; michi）— way / path.

有難き道（ありがたきどう; arigatakidō）—
arigataki (adjectival classical 連体形 “blessed / precious”), michi (michi / dō) carrying both “path” and “spiritual discipline” (as in 合気道); religiously tinged; cf. Ueshiba’s “Way” language grounded in Shintō / Ōmoto); reading dō instead of michi employs kakekotoba in kidō, substituting aiki ⇒ ariga, thus drawing the orthoginality of the Parents of the difficult austere and rare precious.

Archaic diction & sense. The line uses classical spellings (思ふ, みづ). ありがたき道 is best felt as “the precious / grace-filled Way,” not merely “thankful.” 行詰る is “to hit a dead end.” The verse says that at moments of blockage, one returns to the cosmically grounded path of balancing Itsu/Mizu.

Ueshiba’s religious vocabulary. (e.g., 厳瑞, 言霊, みそぎ) reflects his deep engagement with Ōmoto and Deguchi Onisaburō, where the Itsu/Mizu polarity is a recurrent cosmological key. Knowing this helps clarify why “Itsu and Mizu” functions here as a compass at life’s impasses.

Union of Izu and Mizu. 伊都能売 – Izunome; the balanced union of Izu and Mizu is often expressed as Izunome, a deity/concept of rectifying and harmonizing workings that appears in classical sources and later Shintō thought. This background helps explain why Ueshiba calls it an “arigataki michi” (a “blessèd/precious path”). 

In Shinto-inflected thought and Ueshiba’s writings, water symbolizes purification (禊 misogi), adaptability, and life-giving flow. A spring (泉)—water that emerges despite obstruction—becomes a natural metaphor for overcoming stalemate without force. The line thus counsels a martial-spiritual method: when blocked, recall the “spring-teaching”—let clarity and movement well up; find the outlet that the situation itself affords, rather than forcing a breach.

Continuity with other dōka. Ueshiba explicitly invokes Izu / Mizu elsewhere (e.g., “合気とは…いづとみづとの御親…”), confirming that this pair is a fixed element of his poetic theology.

Waka form as moral/ascetic vehicle. Short waka‑length admonitions (dōka) serve as mnemonic training cues in budō; the 31‑mora frame situates ethical reflections within a prestigious classical medium. Overviews of waka form and its cultural power help explain why a 31‑mora cadence lends authority to Ueshiba’s aphorisms.

Anthropology of Japanese religions. Broad syntheses (Hardacre; Reader) frame how new religions (Ōmoto included) rework classical terms (michi, kami) for modern discipline and everyday ethics—precisely the texture in Ueshiba’s verse.

Shugyokai Comment: This is how this practice works, it does not “do” as in force, it grows, yet under numinously strict asceticism . Plant a seed, water it, and grow, in rapid instant succession(s). In a cooking analogy, salt and sugar. And the “compass” comment? Perfect.