Spiritual world of Wa和

Spiritual world of “Wa和 as harmony” (learning woman’s heart)

“Wa” means Yamato-no-Kuni (old country name of Japan), Nagomu or Nagoyaka (to be softened), Yawaragu (to be mitigated), Aeru(mixing ingredients), Nagi (calm waves), Nodoka (idyllic).

The image of “wa” is a woman. Women were called “wo-mina” in the Nara era and “won-na” in the Heian era. It is the same as “wo” in wo-gawa, and “wo” means “small” and “mi” means “woman”. The old woman is “o-mina” and “on-na”. Originally, the vocal sounds of “wo” and “o” were also different.

Awareness in uniqueness of Wago (Japanese)

Shotaro Ikenami said, “If you don’t know if you’re a man or a woman, you’ll really lose the man or woman.” This isn’t something that has begun in modern times.

From the upper ages (from the late Asuka period to the Nara period), people with unidentified figures were able to heal the heart of God by singing and miming on a local tradition story at shrines etc. There were old actors who delighted people at that time. They were called “Wazaoki” (actors).

On the other hand, Sarume-kimi, said to be a descendant of Ame-no- Uzumenomikoto, who danced in front of Ame-no-Iwato (Heavenly door Iwato), performed Kagura as a shrine maiden and sang Monogatari-Kayo (a story song). Descendants of Sarume-kimi have clans of Hieda. One of them is Toneri Hieda-no-Are

Emperor Tenmu sought to compile Kojiki in order to record oral stories and songs. The title “Kojiki” does not appear in the official history books of the Yamato Imperial Court. It seems that Emperor Tenmu embarked on Kojiki as a personal business in order to convey the tradition of ancient songs and Yamato languages ​​in Japanese, without using the Chinese language of the Imperial Court’s official language.

Hieda-no-Are collects myths, legends, and songs from Wazaoki actors and Sarume-kimi shrine maidens, and learned from them. Words are not only for communicating facts and intentions, but for expressing the human spiritual world.

For twenty-five years, from Emperor Tenmu’s demise to the order of the Emperor Genmei’s selection of records, Hieda-no-Are had been singing every day. During that long time, the feelings and thoughts of Hieda-no-Are should be reflected in Kojiki. This is because there are also feminine points of view. However, the Toneri who comes close to the Emperor is a male official in the Taiho-rei(Taiho Law). Perhaps Hieda-no-Are must have dressed as a man and spoke as a spokesman for Emperor Tenmu with a sonorous male voice.

(“Amenouzume-no-mikoto, ~ As holding god possessions and she spreads the chest of her clothes wide and squeezed breasts with her both hands, and then she took off the garment she wore from her waist down and showed and hidden her own pubic area with the string of the garment that she hung.) The scene of Iwato is depicted in a fine detail because Hieda-no-Are, who is also a shrine maiden, can dance. Hieda-no-Are was “をみなWo-mina”. Researcher Nobutsuna Saigo and I have the same idea.

Miko (excellent entertainer / folklore of traditional art / Yamato language holder / heritage of Shinto ritual)

There are sacred trees and mossy rocks all over Japan as “Yorishiro,” where God descends to the ground. There are also sanctuaries where the mountain itself is a sacred body. There has been a primitive shrine maiden since ancient times that was associated with such a natural god. I understand the feelings of Ms. Raicho Hiratsuka who said “ Primitive, the woman was just the sun “.

Wakoku is a derogatory term for Yamato-no-kuni, and means a small country. Emperor Tenmu inherited the respect of Prince Shotoku and named Japan “日本Nihon”. His brother, Emperor Tenchi, and Prince Otomo, who respected Confucianism, were excellent in Chinese poetry. They both longed for the Tang culture and strongly introduced it. The Prince Oh-ama, with the help of Mr. Otomo, won Jinshin-no-ran battle, but thanks to that, the pride of the Japanese people was maintained, the establishment of Japanese language and the “national mime with song”. The culture of songs and dances from all over Japan will be preserved. Thanks to Emperor Tenmu, the Kojiki and Manyoshu were established, and if they had been defeated by the Jinshin-no-ran battle, even the Tale of Genji could not have been established, and there would have been no birth of Sarugaku or Noh, I wonder what kind of country Japan would be.

In February of Tenmu 4, a royal dormitory of music was established by an imperial order to “collect en and women who sing well at the court music school”. The work of the Emperor is essentially a ritual, not a politics. Until the 白拍子shira-byo-shi (a shrine maiden who excels in singing) appeared the end of the Heian period, the shrine maidens who were involved in Shinto rituals, along with the emperor, have supported traditional Japanese culture since ancient times.

The Long Tale of Genji (in order for a woman to be feminine)

There is a fundamental difference between a woman being a woman and being feminine.

It’s the difference between being biologically female rather than male, and being recognized as a female in the social forms and culture of that era. More precisely, “femininity” means that a woman is a woman of heterosexual interest to a man. Murasaki-Shikibu wrote a textbook about being a woman loved by men as a full-length psychological novel 1000 years ago. Why did Murasaki- shikibu come up with the idea of ​​writing the Tale of Genji and continue to write it? What did she want to say to her readers? How have readers of the Tale of Genji enjoyed it? I want to think about it.

The original Essay “Hojo-ki” written by Kamo-no-Chomei still remains, but most of the classics do not exist. Instead, various 写本codexes called 伝本 “manuscripts” remain. The original Tale of Genji written by Murasaki-shikibu no longer exists. However, in the Kamakura era, Sadaie Fujiwara organized the manuscripts into one. It is called “Blue cover book” series. Thanks to that, we can read the Tale of Genji miraculously. Moreover, being a Japanese person, I think it is easier to understand at a level of sensitivity than foreigners (Some researchers, like Donald Keene, love and are familiar with traditional Japanese culture). However, it’s a 1000-year-old work, so the words are different. I used to learn classical grammar, such as auxiliary verb connection and honorifics, for a long time ago at the high school, but in the end I only touched on the Tale of Genji a little. If you were able to read through the whole volume of Genji Monogatari Translation, it would be great. However, this work is so long, and then if you take a little time, you will soon forget about the details. The willingness to try it again is little. Everyone is not motivated to read it.

Murasaki-shikibu also has an emperor as descendant. How, it continues to Emperor Reiwa now. Looking at her family-tree, in spite of the glory of her ancestors, in reality Murasaki-shikibu was the widow whose husband was Zuryo Local ruler, and had a daughter. She gained popularity at the court salon and she directed the world of storytelling there.

From now on, I would like to talk about the spiritual world of “Japanese,” “Miko,” and “Murasaki-shikibu.”

to be continued