IBefore you read
Before a Shinto priest addresses the kami, before offerings are made, even before the doors of the sanctuary are opened, one thing must come first: purification. At most shrines in Japan, that purification opens with a short prayer of eight lines called the Haraekotoba 祓詞, the words of purification. Those attending bow their heads, listen to the priest's slow and even voice, and then feel a wand hung with white paper waved above them. In many households, the same eight lines are read in the morning before the small altar shelf on the wall.
The name is written with two characters, 祓詞, read haraekotoba, and in some places harae no kotoba. The word harae 祓, read phất in Sino-Vietnamese, refers to the rite of removing impurity. The word kotoba 詞 means words. Together they mean words used to purify, rendered closely in Vietnamese as lời tẩy uế, the words of purification.
The prayer belongs to the genre called norito 祝詞, words spoken aloud before the kami. It is short, but it does all three things a norito does: it names the beings addressed and tells their origin, it states the request, and it closes with a formula of reverence. There is only one request: if there are calamities, wrongs and defilements, may the kami of the place of purification remove them and make all clean.
The first point worth noticing is that the prayer does not address the deity named in its first line. The opening line names Izanagi no Ōkami 伊邪那岐大神, but only to tell the origin. The beings actually addressed are the Haraedo no Ōkami 祓戸の大神, the Great Kami of the Place of Purification, who came into being when Izanagi purified himself. The prayer is therefore a story in miniature: the first purification in mythology is recalled to open the way for today's purification.
This page presents the original text in the standard version of the Association of Shinto Shrines, Jinja Honchō 神社本庁, the body that encompasses most shrines in Japan, with Hepburn romanization following the norito reading, Vietnamese and English translations prepared by the library, and notes on each phrase. The library explains and describes, and neither affirms nor denies the efficacy of the prayer.
On the history of the text, three layers should be kept apart. The first layer is the story: the account of Izanagi returning from the land of the dead and purifying himself on the plain of Awagihara is recorded in the Kojiki 古事記, compiled in 712, with variants in the Nihon Shoki 日本書紀. The second layer is the norito form: the reverent naming at the start and the formula kashikomi kashikomi mo mōsu at the end are the familiar pattern of the ancient prayers, the earliest surviving examples of which are preserved in the Engishiki 延喜式, whose main part was completed in 927. The third layer is the specific text read today.
This short eight line version is not in the Engishiki. The purification prayer recorded there is the long text read at the Great Purification at the end of the sixth month, the ancestor of the Ōharae no kotoba 大祓詞 that shrines still recite. The library has not found a reliable historical record stating when or by whom the short version was composed, so no year is given, and readers are asked to be cautious about dates put forward without a source.
What can be verified is that the prayer in circulation has a standard form spread by the shrine system, and that the prefectural shrine agencies republish that form for households to use before the kamidana. Alongside it there are copies that differ in their characters, for example 御禊 or 禊ぎ, 白す事を or 白すことを, 聞こし食せ or 聞こし召せ. These differences change neither the reading nor the meaning. In addition, some Shinto sects such as Shintō Shūseiha 神道修成派 keep their own purification prayer, with wording that differs markedly in places, and the ko-kon.net archive records that prayer as a separate entry.
IIThe full text in eight lines
| Verse | Original Japanese | Hepburn romanization | English | Vietnamese |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 掛けまくも畏き 伊邪那岐大神 | Kakemaku mo kashikoki Izanagi no Ōkami | Izanagi no Ōkami, the Great Kami whom even to speak of fills us with awe, | Đại Thần Izanagi, đấng mà nhắc tới thôi cũng đã thấy kính sợ, |
| 2 | 筑紫の日向の橘の小戸の阿波岐原に | Tsukushi no Himuka no Tachibana no Odo no Awagihara ni | at Awagihara by the little river mouth of Odo, in Tachibana of Himuka in Tsukushi, | tại cánh đồng Awagihara bên cửa nước Odo, đất Tachibana, xứ Himuka thuộc Tsukushi, |
| 3 | 御禊祓へ給ひし時に | misogi harae tamaishi toki ni | when he purified himself in the water and cleansed away defilement, | khi Ngài dầm mình trong nước tẩy sạch uế trược, |
| 4 | 生り坐せる祓戸の大神等 | narimaseru Haraedo no Ōkamitachi | there came into being the Great Kami of the Place of Purification. To you, Great Kami, | thì chư vị Đại Thần của chốn tẩy uế đã sinh ra. Thưa chư vị, |
| 5 | 諸諸の禍事 罪 穢有らむをば | moromoro no magagoto tsumi kegare aramu o ba | whatever calamities, wrongs and defilements there may be, | mọi điều tai ương, mọi lỗi lầm, mọi ô uế, nếu có, |
| 6 | 祓へ給ひ清め給へと | harae tamai kiyome tamae to | we pray you, sweep them away and make all clean. | xin chư vị trừ đi cho, xin làm cho trong sạch, |
| 7 | 白す事を聞こし食せと | mōsu koto o kikoshimese to | These words that I humbly speak, deign to hear them. | lời thưa như thế, xin chư vị lắng nghe, |
| 8 | 恐み恐みも白す | kashikomi kashikomi mo mōsu | With awe, with awe I humbly speak. | kính sợ, kính sợ mà thưa lên. |
IIILine by line commentary
The section below follows the exact order of the eight lines of the original, one phrase per entry. The prayer is written in the classical Japanese of liturgy, with many words no longer used in everyday speech, so each entry gives both the literal meaning and the points on which commentators and translators differ. The two hardest points to translate are the names of the kami and the phrase misogi harae, discussed in detail in the second and fourth entries.
This is the familiar opening of a great many norito, placed before the name of a kami. Kakemaku is a nominalized form of the old verb kaku 掛く, the particle mo means even, and kashikoki 畏き means awe inspiring. The phrase as a whole is usually understood as: even to bring your name into words is a thing of awe.
Commentators read the word kaku in two ways. The first takes it as to say aloud, to put into words, so the phrase is a respectful preface before daring to speak the name. The second takes it as to hold in the heart, to think of, so the phrase says that merely thinking of the kami inspires awe. The two readings do not change the main sense: the one praying places himself low before beginning to speak. The library's Vietnamese translation uses the word nhắc tới, to mention, because it can hold both meanings.
Izanagi, whose four characters read Y Tà Na Kỳ in Sino-Vietnamese, is the male kami of the pair who formed the islands of Japan in Japanese mythology, together with the female kami Izanami. The four characters here serve only to record the sound and carry no meaning from their form. For that reason the same name is written in several ways: in the Kojiki, in the passage on the purification, it is written 伊邪那伎大神 with the character 伎, while elsewhere it is 伊邪那岐命, and the Nihon Shoki writes 伊弉諾尊. The prayer uses the spelling now in common use, 伊邪那岐.
The honorific Ōkami 大神, Great Kami, is another point translators handle differently. Older English versions often render it as Great God, but the capitalized word God in English suggests a single creator, which does not fit the idea of kami. Many recent versions keep Ōkami as it is or render it Great Kami, and the English column of this page follows the latter. In Vietnamese, the library keeps the word Đại Thần, because it is the Sino-Vietnamese reading of the two original characters, but asks readers to take the word thần here in the sense of kami, not in the sense of an official in heaven.
This line is a chain of nested place names, from wider to narrower, linked by the particle no, meaning of. Tsukushi 筑紫 is the old name of the island of Kyūshū or of its northern part. Himuka 日向 is the province now read Hyūga, but the prayer keeps the old reading himuka, literally facing the sun. Tachibana 橘 is the name of the wild mandarin tree, used here as a place name. Odo 小戸 is a small water gate, the place where a river flows into the sea. Awagihara 阿波岐原 is the plain of Awagi, and its first three characters also serve only to record the sound.
A point about the characters: the Kojiki writes 竺紫 and 小門, while the prayer writes 筑紫 and 小戸. A variant in the Nihon Shoki writes the plain as 檍原 and puts the order as 小戸橘. As for the reading, priests read awagihara, while the present day place name in Miyazaki is usually read awakigahara. This is a difference of reading and does not change the meaning.
This is the hardest phrase in the prayer to translate. Misogi 禊 is purification by water, immersing oneself in a river or the sea. Harae 祓 is the removal of impurity in general. The character 御 in front is an honorific, tamaishi 給ひし is an honorific auxiliary verb in the past tense, and toki ni means when.
Commentators and translators read the pair misogi harae in two ways. The first sees it as a single act called by two words of similar meaning: Izanagi purified himself with water, and that immersion is itself the harae. Those who follow this reading usually merge the pair into one verb, such as to purify. The second sees it as two acts in sequence: casting off the belongings and clothing brought back from the land of the dead, which is the removal, and then entering the water to wash the body, which is the purification by water. Those who follow this reading keep the two words separate. The Kojiki itself writes the two characters together as 禊祓 in the sentence that tells of this act.
The library's Vietnamese translation chooses to keep both ideas in one sentence: immersing himself in the water and cleansing away defilement. The English translation reads purified himself in the water and cleansed away defilement in the same way. In the prose, the library keeps the two words misogi and harae as they are, because any single word chosen in translation loses half the meaning.
Narimaseru 生り坐せる is the verb naru, to come into being, to become, joined with the honorific masu. The word deserves attention: Japanese mythology does not say that the kami were made by someone, but that they came into being of themselves within an event. Haraedo 祓戸 combines the word harae with to or do, meaning a place, a spot, as in the words for a river mouth or a strait. Haraedo is the place where purification is performed. The suffix tachi 等 marks the plural.
Who these kami are is understood in several ways. The prayer itself does not name them. The most common reading identifies them with the four kami of purification named in the Ōharae no kotoba: Seoritsuhime, Hayaakitsuhime, Ibukidonushi and Hayasasurahime. Another reading compares them with the kami who came into being in Izanagi's own purification according to the Kojiki, especially those whose names relate to straightening what is crooked. Some also read the phrase as a general honorific for all kami in charge of purification. The library records all three readings and does not choose on the reader's behalf.
Grammatically, this line is where the prayer turns: the three lines before it are a clause telling the origin, and only here do the beings addressed appear. For that reason the Vietnamese translation adds the words thưa chư vị, a respectful address to all of you, so that the reader can see the turn.
The three nouns standing side by side are three kinds of thing to be purified. Moromoro 諸諸 means all, every. Some copies write 諸々, with the repetition mark, and read it the same way.
Magagoto 禍事, read họa sự in Sino-Vietnamese, means what is crooked, what is askew, calamity. The root maga means crooked, the opposite of nao, straight. These two roots appear in the names of the kami who came into being when Izanagi purified himself, such as 禍津日神 and 直毘神. Tsumi 罪 is often translated as sin, but in the framework of ancient Shinto it is closer to a flaw, an act that throws order askew, than to sin in the moral sense of religions with a final judgement. Kegare 穢 is the impurity that clings to a person through contact with death, blood, illness and calamity.
Because the word tsumi is easily read as moral sin, the Vietnamese column of this page renders it as lỗi lầm, faults, and the English column renders it as wrongs rather than sins. This is a translation choice, and many other English translations still use the word sins.
Aramu 有らむ is the verb ari, to be, to exist, with the conjectural auxiliary mu. It means: if there are any, whatever there may be. The one praying does not assert that he is impure, only that if there is impurity, may it be purified. The particles o ba emphasize the object before them.
The two verbs that follow are harae 祓へ, to remove, and kiyome 清め, to make pure. The two acts follow one another: first the dirt is swept away, then things are made clean again. The word tamae 給へ at the end is the imperative of the honorific auxiliary, which in a prayer means please do this for us. The particle to closes off the whole request as a quotation, so that the next line can speak about that request itself.
This very pair of verbs was later drawn out on its own as the short prayer 祓へ給へ 清め給へ, discussed in the section on kegare and harae below.
Mōsu 白す means to say, to speak to a superior. The character used here is the character for white, bạch in Sino-Vietnamese, taken in its sense of respectfully reporting, and written in historical kana as まをす. Kikoshimese is the honorific form of the verb to hear, in the imperative, meaning please hear. Copies differ in their characters here: the Jinja Honchō standard version writes 聞こし食せ, many popular websites write 聞こし召せ, and both are read the same way. Likewise, 白す事を is written 白すことを in some places.
The two tier structure of the sentence deserves attention: the one praying does not say outright please purify me, but says please hear my words asking that you purify. This way of speaking one step removed is the courtesy of norito style, so that the request does not become a command.
This is the closing line of almost every norito. Kashikomi 恐み is the continuative form of the verb kashikomu, to be in awe, to bow low. The word is repeated twice for weight, then the particle mo adds emphasis, then comes the verb mōsu, to speak. The whole line means: in the deepest awe, I speak.
The word kashikomi here shares its root with the word kashikoki in the first line. The prayer therefore opens and closes with the same attitude, awe, and the whole request sits between those two bows. In the norito style of reading, this line is usually drawn out, with the voice lowered on the last word.
IVIzanagi's purification at Tachibana no Odo
The first three lines of the prayer are a compressed story. A Japanese listener knows at once which story it is, but a reader in another language needs it told. This section retells the story according to the Kojiki, then sets apart the historical notes on the text and on the place names.
According to the Kojiki, Izanagi and Izanami are the pair of kami who gave birth to the islands and to many other kami. Izanami died giving birth to the kami of fire and went down to Yomi 黄泉, the land of the dead. Izanagi went down to find his wife, broke the instruction he had been given and looked upon Izanami's decaying body, then fled and blocked the passage between the two worlds with a great rock.
On his return, Izanagi said that he had been to a foul and dreadful land, and so he must purify his body. He went to the plain of Awagihara at the river mouth of Odo, in Tachibana of Himuka in Tsukushi, and performed misogi harae. The original sentence in the Kojiki reads 到坐竺紫日向之橘小門之阿波岐原而、禊祓也.
The purification proceeded step by step. First he threw off his staff, sash, bag, robe, trousers, headgear and bracelets, and from each thing cast off a kami came into being, twelve in all. Then he observed that the upper stream flowed too fast and the lower stream too weakly, so he went into the middle stream to wash himself. From the filth of Yomi washed away came two kami of the crooked, 八十禍津日神 and 大禍津日神. To set that crookedness right, the kami 神直毘神, 大直毘神 and 伊豆能売 then came into being. After that, as he washed at the bottom of the water, in the middle of the water and at its surface, the kami of the sea came into being.
Finally, when he washed his left eye, Amaterasu, the kami of the sun, came into being, when he washed his right eye, Tsukuyomi, the kami of the moon, and when he washed his nose, Susanoo. These three are called the three noble children, and Izanagi gave each of them a realm to rule.
Why this story stands at the head of the prayer
According to the teaching that shrines give, the story of Izanagi is the first purification, the model for every purification after it. Several points that Shinto keeps to this day are drawn from it. First, impurity is something that clings from outside, here from the land of the dead, and is not a person's nature. Second, impurity can be washed off, with water and by casting things off. Third, from the very act of purification the most auspicious things come into being, the highest of them Amaterasu.
When the prayer names Izanagi and then tells where he purified himself, the one praying places today's purification in the same line as that first one. The kami of the place of purification came into being on that occasion, so they are invited to do their work again on this one. That is the reading many priests use when explaining the prayer to worshippers.
There is one detail of the story that the prayer does not mention but is worth knowing: in Izanagi's purification, the kami of the crooked came into being first, and only then the kami who straighten what is crooked. In other words, the story does not pretend that purification goes smoothly. The dirt that is washed out takes form, and a step of setting things right is needed.
As for the text, the Kojiki was compiled in 712 by order of the court, recording myths and genealogies. The passage on the purification uses the characters 竺紫 and 小門, which differ from 筑紫 and 小戸 in the prayer. The Nihon Shoki has a variant of the same story that gives the place as 筑紫日向小戸橘之檍原, with a different order and with Awagihara written as a single separate kanji.
As for the place, several sites claim to be the site of the first purification, but no archaeological evidence settles it. In the city of Miyazaki there is the Awakigahara area, with Eda Shrine 江田神社 and a pond called the misogi pond みそぎ池. In Fukuoka there is the Odo area and the shrine Odo Daijingū 小戸大神宮. The Kojiki commentary pages of Kokugakuin University note that the actual location has not been determined, and many researchers read this chain of place names as a half real, half sacred land, a border zone with another world, rather than a point on a map.
VKegare and harae, the kamidana, and two related prayers
To understand why a prayer of eight lines is read before every rite, one needs to understand the axis on which Shinto builds everything: the pair of purity and impurity. This section covers the two concepts of kegare and harae, the altar shelf in the home where the prayer is read each morning, and two related prayers, one shorter and one longer.
Kegare 穢れ is impurity, defilement, which some also explain as a wearing down of vital energy. It clings to a person through contact with death, blood, illness and calamity, and also through neglect of ritual. The key point in Shinto teaching is that kegare is not a permanent stain and not an evil human nature. It is something that clings, and so something that can be washed off.
Harae 祓 is the rite of removing what clings. It takes many forms: the words of a prayer, the wand hung with white paper that the priest waves, scattered salt, the water for rinsing the hands at the gate. Misogi 禊 is purification by water, rooted in Izanagi's immersion. The water basin at a shrine's entrance, where visitors rinse their hands and mouth, is misogi in miniature.
Because the religion's axis lies in pure and impure, every Shinto rite begins with a step of purification, and the Haraekotoba is the words of that step. People do not come before the kami to confess sins, but to become pure again and only then to speak.
The kamidana, the household altar
The kamidana 神棚, literally the kami shelf, is a small altar shelf set high on a wall in a home or a shop. In the middle there is usually a small wooden model of a shrine, inside which talismans from shrines are placed. The most common talisman is the Jingū Taima 神宮大麻 of Ise Jingū, passed through local shrines to each household and placed beside the talisman of the local shrine. In front of the small shrine are set rice, salt and water, in some homes rice wine as well, and two vases of sakaki branches.
Vietnamese readers will find much that resembles the altar to the household spirits in their own homes. The difference lies in the custom of replacing the talismans: Shinto talismans are considered to have a term, and when it ends they are returned to the shrine to be burned, because purity wears away over time. That same idea explains why the words of purification are read again every morning, rather than read once and done.
Three purification prayers, short, medium and long
The Haraekotoba stands between two other prayers that do the same work. The shorter one is the condensed prayer 祓へ給へ 清め給へ, read harae tamae kiyome tamae, meaning please remove, please make clean. This is exactly the pair of verbs in the sixth line of the Haraekotoba, drawn out on its own. Many shrines teach households a slightly longer version, 祓へ給へ 清め給へ 守り給へ 幸へ給へ, read harae tamae kiyome tamae mamori tamae sakihae tamae, which adds two requests, for protection and for blessings. The question and answer page of Musashi Mitake Shrine gives this as the short prayer used before the kamidana.
The longer one is the Ōharae no kotoba 大祓詞, the words of the Great Purification. Its origin is the norito read at the Great Purification at the end of the sixth month, recorded in the Engishiki. It is many times longer than the Haraekotoba. It tells of the kami descending to earth, lists the kinds of tsumi, then describes four kami of the place of purification who in turn carry wrongdoing out of the world: one bears it on the rushing streams out to the open sea, one swallows it where the currents meet, one blows it down into the netherworld, and one carries it off wandering until it vanishes. At shrines this prayer is read at the Great Purification at the end of the sixth month and at the end of the twelfth month, and some people read it daily. The version read at shrines today omits the passage listing each kind of wrongdoing that appears in the Engishiki text.
| Prayer | Length and content | When it is read |
|---|---|---|
| The condensed prayer 祓へ給へ 清め給へ | One sentence, two requests to remove and to make clean. The version adding 守り給へ 幸へ給へ has four requests | Before the kamidana, when worshipping at the haiden, or when the longer prayer cannot be read |
| Haraekotoba 祓詞 | Eight lines, 87 characters. Tells the origin from Izanagi and asks the kami of the place of purification to remove impurity | At the opening of the purification in every rite at a shrine, and before the kamidana in the morning |
| Ōharae no kotoba 大祓詞 | A long text telling the myth, the kinds of tsumi and the four kami of purification | The Great Purification at the end of the sixth and twelfth months, and the daily reading of some people |
Historical kana and today's reading
The prayer is printed in the historical kana spelling called rekishiteki kanazukai 歴史的仮名遣. That is why the text shows 祓へ and not 祓え, and 給ひし and not 給いし. When reading aloud, however, priests follow present day pronunciation: へ is read e, ひ inside a word is read i, まをす is read mōsu, and おほかみ is read ōkami. The Hepburn romanization in the Full text section follows that reading. The table below sets the two side by side, line by line.
| Line | Written in historical kana | Read in the norito manner |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | かけまくもかしこき いざなぎのおほかみ | Kakemaku mo kashikoki Izanagi no Ōkami |
| 2 | つくしのひむかのたちばなのをどのあはぎはらに | Tsukushi no Himuka no Tachibana no Odo no Awagihara ni |
| 3 | みそぎはらへたまひしときに | misogi harae tamaishi toki ni |
| 4 | なりませるはらへどのおほかみたち | narimaseru Haraedo no Ōkamitachi |
| 5 | もろもろのまがごとつみけがれあらむをば | moromoro no magagoto tsumi kegare aramu o ba |
| 6 | はらへたまひきよめたまへと | harae tamai kiyome tamae to |
| 7 | まをすことをきこしめせと | mōsu koto o kikoshimese to |
| 8 | かしこみかしこみもまをす | kashikomi kashikomi mo mōsu |
VIWhen and how the faithful read it
The Haraekotoba has two main settings: in rites at a shrine, read by a priest, and before the kamidana at home, read by members of the household. The two settings differ in who reads, in posture and in what accompanies the reading, but they share the same place in the sequence: the prayer is read first, to open the way for what follows.
At a shrine
A rite at a shrine, whether a great seasonal festival or a private prayer service for one family, usually opens with the part called shūbatsu 修祓, the performance of purification. Those attending sit or stand in their appointed places and bow their heads when the priest signals. A priest stands before the place of purification and reads the Haraekotoba in the norito voice: slow and even, with the final sound of each phrase drawn out and lowered.
When the reading is done, the priest takes up the purification wand called the ōnusa 大麻, a wooden staff hung with many folded strips of white paper, and waves it over the offerings, over the other priests, and then over those attending, usually in the rhythm left, right, left. Only after this step are the doors of the sanctuary opened, the offerings presented and the main norito of the rite read.
Ordinary visitors who simply stand before the haiden, drop in a coin, ring the bell, bow and clap do not hear this prayer. It is heard only when a priest performs a rite. At large shrines such as Ise Jingū or Fushimi Inari, the purification at the start of each rite is always present, but the exact words read are set by each shrine, and the library has no source confirming that every one of them uses the version given on this page.
Before the kamidana in the morning
At home, people read the Haraekotoba before the kamidana, usually in the morning. According to the question and answer page of Musashi Mitake Shrine, offerings should be made every morning if possible, and at least on the first and the fifteenth of each month. The Hokkaidō Shrine Agency page gives the Haraekotoba and the kamidana prayer 神棚拝詞 as two example prayers for household use.
The person rinses the hands and mouth, then replaces the rice, salt and water on the shelf, in some homes adding rice wine. If there are sakaki branches, the water in the vases is changed.
Standing or sitting upright before the shelf, the person bows before reading the prayer. The Musashi Mitake Shrine page describes the sequence as two bows first, the prayer, then two bows, two claps and one bow.
The reader bows the head, reads the Haraekotoba, and may then go on to the kamidana prayer. Those who do not know the text by heart read the short prayer asking for removal, cleansing, protection and blessings.
At home, most people read softly or silently, with no need for the norito voice of a priest. Some families keep a sheet with the prayer just below the shelf and read from it.
Differences between places
Because Shinto has no mandatory body of scripture, the way this prayer is read varies considerably. Shrines within the Jinja Honchō system use the standard version given on this page, but the prayer sheets printed for households in each prefecture may differ in their characters. Independent shrines and Shinto sects may have their own versions, such as the purification prayer of Shintō Shūseiha mentioned above. Some households read the Haraekotoba followed by the kamidana prayer, some read only the short prayer, and some also read the Ōharae no kotoba every day. The library describes these differences so that readers can understand what they see, while the specific practice is taught by the shrine of each area to the people who live there.
VIICommon misunderstandings
The prayer is short, widely read and written in classical Japanese, so it is easily understood through the familiar frames of other religions. The five points below are the most common misreadings.
The word tsumi in the prayer is often translated as sin, and from there the prayer is read as an act of repentance. In the Shinto framework, tsumi is closer to a flaw, an act that throws order askew, while kegare is something that clings from outside. The prayer does not list faults or admit to them, it only asks that if there are any, they be removed. It is closer to washing one's hands before entering a house than to confessing sins.
Izanagi is named first, but the beings addressed are the Haraedo no Ōkami, the Great Kami of the Place of Purification. Izanagi appears in order to tell their origin. Misreading this point loses the central idea of the prayer: today's purification is linked to the first purification in mythology.
The two names are close and often confused. The Haraekotoba is the short eight line prayer read at the opening of every rite. The Ōharae no kotoba is the long text read at the Great Purification at the end of the sixth and twelfth months, rooted in the Engishiki and naming the four kami of purification. The short prayer is not an abridgement of the long one.
In rites at a shrine, the prayer is read by a priest. But the prefectural shrine agencies themselves publish it on their websites as a prayer for households to read before the kamidana. The two coexist: the reading in a rite belongs to the priest, and the reading at home belongs to the household.
Both Miyazaki and Fukuoka have places whose names are tied to this story, with shrines and ponds. But no evidence settles the location, and the Kojiki commentary pages of Kokugakuin University note that the actual site is unknown. This is a matter of local belief, not a conclusion of historical scholarship.
?Quick Questions
What is the Haraekotoba
It is a short Shinto prayer of eight lines, written 祓詞, meaning the words of purification. It recalls Izanagi's purification on the plain of Awagihara as told in the Kojiki, then asks the Great Kami of the Place of Purification to remove all calamities, wrongs and defilements, if there are any. It is read at the opening of the purification in rites at shrines, and many households read it before the kamidana in the morning.
How does the original text of the Haraekotoba begin
The Jinja Honchō standard version opens with 掛けまくも畏き 伊邪那岐大神, read Kakemaku mo kashikoki Izanagi no Ōkami, meaning Izanagi no Ōkami, the Great Kami whom even to speak of fills us with awe. It closes with 恐み恐みも白す, kashikomi kashikomi mo mōsu, with awe, with awe I humbly speak. By the library's own count, the whole prayer has 87 characters, 49 kanji and 38 kana.
What does misogi harae mean in the prayer
Misogi is purification by water, and harae is the removal of impurity in general. Some read the pair as one act called by two names, that is, Izanagi immersing himself in water to purify himself. Others read it as two acts in sequence, first casting off the belongings brought back from the land of the dead, then entering the water to wash. The library records both readings and keeps the two words as they are in the prose.
How does the Haraekotoba differ from the Ōharae no kotoba
The Haraekotoba is a short eight line prayer read at the start of every rite and before the kamidana. The Ōharae no kotoba 大祓詞 is a long text, rooted in the norito of the Great Purification recorded in the Engishiki, which tells the myth and describes four kami of purification, and it is read at the Great Purification at the end of the sixth and twelfth months. Shorter than both is the condensed prayer 祓へ給へ 清め給へ, please remove, please make clean.
Why do the written characters differ from the reading
Because the prayer is printed in the historical kana spelling, while it is read with present day pronunciation. In historical kana, へ at the end of a word is read e, ひ inside a word is read i, and まをす is read mōsu. So 祓へ給ひし is read harae tamaishi. The Hepburn romanization on this page follows the reading priests use when reciting norito.