修行会

悟後修行

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Introduction

When translating classic Waka/Man’yō poetry, it is important to understand symbology throughout these classics. Sometimes it‘s not so literal, yet I do prefer literal translations that index (in the Peircian sense) when symbols cannot represent 1:1 equivalence (see (b) (3)-P.L. 86-36, n.d. for an example of real world consequences). So if a poem has the word 太刀, it will get translated as tachi or ken etc., however, I do not intend to gloss the meaning of this word’s use in poetry, but prefer to allow its ”then and there” context. This preference is to index what the poet is attending to, amidst the corpus of the poem’s words, syntax, and morphology itself. That is—amidst circumstances within which it was written, and amidst the entire ecology around the writer and projected readers‘ lives across not only time, but also space. Poetry has this way of rich complexity, not spoon-fed, where the reader is invited—to look, to smell, to taste, to touch, and jointly attend along with the poet.

So while tachi might be a word in a poem, there are many meanings that tachi carries throughout. In the high conceptual density in these poems, layers of meanings emerge. In other words, things may not be what they seem, at first, or even second, to last, but are considered all in one go. So here, we (as in the joint authoring of myself and editing by OpenAI ChatGPT-5 Pro) will cover a concept key to jointly attend the poet/translator with and then relay many of these meanings, and follow with a conclusion. But first, it is important to cover 枕詞 (makurakotoba).

What is a 枕詞 (makurakotoba; i.e., pillow word)?

Out of the gate, the concept of a pillow word is absent romantic connotation, but is related to poetics. Pillow words modify phrases or adjusts tone, and may not be related to the meaning of the text surrounding (Kotobank, 2025b). In many of these poem‘s cases, the sword is quite literally a sword, and symbolizes more than just a sword.

A pillow‑word cue for intimacy/ attachment — “身に添ふ” (closeness at the body)

剣太刀 (tsurugi‑tachi) is a classic makurakotoba that regularly precedes (and semantically colors) certain verbs: 身に添ふ “to lie close / press to the body” (conjugal intimacy), 研ぐ “to sharpen / polish” (honing the spirit/reputation), and 斎(いは)ふ “to purify / consecrate” (sacrality). This is documented in standard dictionaries of classical Japanese usage. (Kotobank, 2025a). In more detail, as a pillow word, 剣太刀’s “hooks” to 身に添ふ (“to be close to the body”), and lets the poem equate sword-nearness with marital or loverly nearness (Shogakukan, n.d.).

Examples:

  • MYS 2:217（挽歌・長歌の中）「…敷栲の手枕まきて 剣太刀 身に添へ寝けむ…」— “(He) must have lain with his sword at his side,” i.e., as a husband beside his wife; sword-nearness becomes conjugal closeness. (Manyoshu Japan, 2006/2018).
  • MYS 14:3485　「剣大刀 身に添ふ妹を取り見がね…」— “I could not even tend my wife—who once clung close like a sword at the body—and broke into sobs.” (Wikisource, 2023). 

Omen and euphemism for union in love poetry.

In Man’yōshū 4–604, Kasa no Iratsume dreams “剣太刀 身に取り添ふと …”—treating the tachi at the body as a yume-awase (dream sign) of meeting / lying together with the beloved. Here the sword is a coded image for corporeal closeness and anticipated union, not battlefield violence. (Nara Prefecture Man’yō Culture Museum, n.d.).

Symbol of ritual sacred power and ritual offering.

Man’yōshū 13–3227 ends with “剣太刀 斎ひ祭れる 神にしませば,” explicitly presenting the sword as an object to be purified and worshiped—linking the tachi to Shintō cultic efficacy. (Nara Prefecture Man’yō Culture Museum, n.d.).

This sacred/ceremonial valence persisted historically: museum catalogues note that ornate 兵庫鎖太刀(hyōgogusari‑tachi) later shifted from battlefield use to shrine offerings and ceremonial display, underscoring the sword’s ritual authority. (Tokyo National Museum eMuseum; Tokyo National Museum). 

Emblem of reputation and name (名) — social renown and rumor.

Man’yōshū 20–4467 (Ōtomo no Yakamochi) exhorts, “剣大刀 いよよ研ぐべし …”—a rhetorical call to “polish the sword” that metaphorically urges maintaining a lineage’s bright, unsullied name. The tachi stands for cultivated resolve and public virtue rather than mere steel. (Nara Prefecture Man’yō Culture Museum, n.d.).

The same makurakotoba behavior appears elsewhere in the anthology, e.g., as a set‑up for 研ぐ (to “hone” the heart) in a court poem about service and waiting. (Nara Prefecture Man’yō Culture Museum, n.d; poem 3326). 

For example, 剣太刀 functions as a pillow word for 名（な）(via the phonetic association 刃（な） ⇄ 名), so poets pivot from “sword” to a statement about one’s name or reputation in love songs. (Shogakukan, n.d.). 

Examples:

  • MYS 4:616　「剣太刀 名の惜しけくも…」— “My ‘good name’ no longer matters; the years have passed with us apart.” (Nara Prefecture Complex of Man’yō Culture, n.d.). Point: The sword points the poem directly to 名 (name / renown).
  • MYS 11:2499　「我妹子に恋ひしわたれば 剣大刀 名の惜しけくも 思ひかねつも」— “So long in love that I can’t even care about my ‘name.’” (Wikisource, 2023). 

Marker of status/authority and palace service.

In public / imperial contexts the tachi indexes duty and rank—“girded with bow and 剣太刀 to guard the sovereign’s gate”—a trope that ties the sword to loyal service rather than personal combat. (Nara Prefecture Man’yō Culture Museum, poem 4094).

Historical surveys also note that, as battlefield styles changed, tachi use narrowed and the weapon became an upper‑warrior / courtly status emblem in ceremony and presentation, reinforcing the poetic associations with prestige and authority. (Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum “Tōken World”; Wikipedia overview of Japanese swords). 

Indexes martial identity and moral discipline — masculinity, clan honor, ‘polishing’ the name.

How it works: The sword stands metonymically for the warrior self (ますらを) and, via the pillow-word link to 磨（と）ぐ, for moral cultivation (“polish your blade/name”). (Shogakukan, n.d.).

  • MYS 11:2635　「剣大刀 身に佩き添ふる ますらをや…」— “A man who wears a sword—can he not endure something so small as love?” The sword indexes rank/warrior identity. (Wikisource, 2023).
  • MYS 20:4467　「剣太刀 いよよ磨（と）ぐべし—古（いにしへ）ゆさやけく負ひて来にしその名ぞ」— “Sharpen the sword all the more; keep bright the clan’s unblemished name.” (Nara Prefecture Complex of Man’yō Culture, n.d.). 

Passionate devotion to the point of death — hyperbolic love oaths.

The blade (諸刃) supplies extreme, embodied imagery for readiness to die for love.

  • MYS 11:2498　「剣大刀 諸刃の利きに 足踏みて 死なば死なむよ君によりては」— “I’d step on the keen double edge and die—if it be for you.” (Wikisource, 2023).
  • MYS 11:2636　「剣大刀 諸刃の上に 行き触れて 死にかもしなむ…」— “I might as well meet the double edge and die, rather than keep pining.” (Wikisource, 2023).

Ritual sanctity & talismanic/omen function — divine purity, auspicious dreams.

How it works: Because swords are ritually 斎（いは）ひ祭（まつ）られる objects, 剣太刀 can mark sacredness or protection; it also appears in 夢合（ゆめあは）せ (dream divination) as an auspicious sign linking to union.

  • MYS 13:3227（長歌末尾）　「…剣太刀 斎ひ祭れる 神にしませば」— “For you are gods enshrined like sacred swords,” invoking sanctity and protection. (Wikisource, 2023; Nara Prefecture Complex of Man’yō Culture, n.d.).
  • MYS 4:604（笠女郎）「剣大刀 身に取り添ふと 夢に見つ…君に相（あ）はせむ」— “I dreamed I wore a sword at my side; let us match the dream to (our) meeting,” i.e., treating the sword as an auspicious omen of union. (Nara Prefecture Complex of Man’yō Culture, n.d.). 

Conclusion

Examples of waka’s use using tachi (太刀) is typically far less a literal battlefield tool and more of a poetic trigger. Tachi offers a sign an index of (a) social reputation / name via makurakotoba to 名, (b) intimacy / attachment via makurakotoba to 身に添ふ, (c) martial identity and moral/mental discipline (including “polishing” one’s name), (d) hyperbolic devotion unto death, (e) sacredness / protection and auspicious omen in ritual and dreams, and (f) metonymic signal of rank, duty, and ancestral honor. These functions and linkages are summarized in reliable lexica and borne out by the Man’yōshū examples above (Kotobank, n.d.; Nara Prefecture Man’yō Culture Museum; Tokyo National Museum).

While Morihei Ueshiba (O’Sensei) uses tachi in a literal sword sense, it is important to consider the pervailing cultural use of tachi in waka and its influence on and with O’Sensei himself. These additional meanings are most definitely implied, hence “getting intimate with the yin as yang”, “sending the heart forward”, ”purifying the heart-mind”, “devotedness to the way of heaven”, ”サムハラ”, and the ”all pervasiveness of of bu”.

References

今村, 嘉雄. (1981). 和歌並びに狂歌と武事. 武道学研究, 13(3), 1–10. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/budo1968/13/3/13_1/_pdf

奈良県立万葉文化館［万葉百科］. (n.d.). 剣大刀名の惜しけくも我はなし君に逢はずて年の経ぬれば（MYS 4:616）.
https://manyo-hyakka.pref.nara.jp/db/detail?cls=db_manyo&pkey=616

奈良県立万葉文化館［万葉百科］. (n.d.). 剣大刀いよよ研ぐべし…（MYS 20:4467）.
https://manyo-hyakka.pref.nara.jp/db/detail?cls=db_manyo&pkey=4467

奈良県立万葉文化館［万葉百科］. (n.d.). 剣大刀身に取り添ふと夢に見つ…（MYS 4:604）.
https://manyo-hyakka.pref.nara.jp/db/detail?cls=db_manyo&pkey=604

Kotobank. (2025a). 剣太刀（ツルギタチ）とは？ 意味や使い方. DIGITALIO. Retrieved October 11, 2025, from https://kotobank.jp/word/剣太刀-572930

Kotobank. (2025b). 枕詞. DIGITALIO. Retrieved October 12, 2025 from https://kotobank.jp/word/枕詞-135915

Manyoshu Japan. (2006/2018). 万葉集 第2巻 217番歌（柿本人麻呂）.
https://manyoshu-japan.com/13361/

Manyoshu Japan (2018, March 24). 第20巻 4467番歌. Retrieved October 11, 2025, from https://manyoshu-japan.com/9111/

(b) (3)-P.L. (n.d.). Mokusatsu: One Word, Two Outcomes (Technical Journal article). National Security Agency. https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/tech-journals/mokusatsu.pdf

Nagoya Japanese Sword Museum Tōken World. (n.d.). 日本刀 基礎知識を解説. Retrieved October 11, 2025, from https://www.touken-collection-nagoya.jp/nihonto-basic-knowledge/

National Institutes for Cultural Heritage (Tokyo National Museum eMuseum). (n.d.). Gunchōmon hyōgogusari tachi (Uesugi tachi). Retrieved October 11, 2025, from https://emuseum.nich.go.jp/detail?content_base_id=100181

Nara Prefecture Man’yō Culture Museum. (n.d.). 剣大刀身に取り添ふと夢に見つ…（巻4‑604）. Retrieved October 11, 2025, from https://manyo-hyakka.pref.nara.jp/db/detail?pkey=604&cls=db_manyo

Nara Prefecture Man’yō Culture Museum. (n.d.). 剣大刀 斎ひ祭れる…（巻13‑3227）. Retrieved October 11, 2025, from https://manyo-hyakka.pref.nara.jp/db/detailLink?cls=db_manyo&pkey=3227

Nara Prefecture Man’yō Culture Museum. (n.d.). 剣大刀いよよ研ぐべし…（巻20‑4467）. Retrieved October 11, 2025, from https://manyo-hyakka.pref.nara.jp/db/detail?cls=db_manyo&pkey=4467

Nara Prefecture Man’yō Culture Museum. (n.d.). （巻—）…剣太刀を腰に帯び…宮門の守護…（詩 4094 〈抄〉）. Retrieved October 11, 2025, from https://manyo-hyakka.pref.nara.jp/db/detailLink?cls=db_manyo&pkey=4094

Shogakukan. (n.d.). デジタル大辞泉: 剣太刀. 小学館国語辞典.
https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%89%A3%E5%A4%AA%E5%88%80-572930

Tokyo National Museum. (2006, March 28). Various styles of tachi sword mountings. Retrieved October 11, 2025, from https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=206&lang=en

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