Taiki: Kōji 2 {1143} 10.22 Entry

康治二年十月二十二日条
Translated by Yumi Kodama and Tanya Kostochka

Kōji 2 10.22 Entry

Twenty-second Day. Kinotono mi. 1 Sunny. Around the Hour of the Snake 2 , I visited the lodging 3 of {Minamoto no Shishi,} the primary wife 4 {of Fujiwara no Tadazane.} Tonsured Former Regent 5 {Fujiwara no Tadazane 6 } and Dharma Prince 7 {Kakuhō 8 } were already there. The treasures had been brought out, and they were examining them. There were some rare items.

Then, Minamoto no Shishi visited the Six Prayers Hall 9 . I accompanied her. During this visit, I stopped by the refectory 10 to have a look. 〈There were no Buddha images, due to the restorations.〉

Next, < I accompanied> Minamoto no Shishi to the lecture hall 11 and then the pagoda 12 . She subsequently went to the Temple of Prince Shōtoku’s Spirit 13 . On the way there, I separated from the party and stopped by the Temple of Ten Thousand Towers 14 . Minamoto no Shishi went ahead to the Picture Hall 15 . {Later, I went back and joined her party. }

The tonsured former regent and the dharma prince were on cobblestones beneath the eaves.〈Lord Novice {Tadazane 16 } remained in his palanquin.The prince’s seat was placed on the cobblestone, and he waited on {Minamoto no Shishi} there.〉A certain provisional head supervisor 17 from this temple expounded on the meaning {of The Pictorial Biography of Prince Shōtoku 18 } by gesturing to the painting with a wooden pointer 19 . {Minamoto no Shishi} invited me to go sit inside the hall and question the supervisor when something was unclear. She remained in her carriage and listened to the lecture. After a while it ended, and Provisional Governor of Kai {Taira no} Nobunori bestowed a reward upon the supervisor {on behalf of the host. } 20

Then, Minamoto no Shishi visited the Hall of Prince Shōtoku’s Spirit. 21 〈She remained in her carriage. When {she and the Lord Novice} go to visit various halls, her carriage is pulled by male retainers. {When they stop} she remains in her carriage, and the Lord Novice rides in his palanquin. This is because both of them have difficulty walking.〉 I went inside the hall and paid obeisance to Prince Shōtoku twice 〈I followed the convention of paying obeisance to Prince and therefore did not do it a third time {as one would to a Buddha}.〉 22 I said a petitionary prayer: “If I am to be regent of the land, I wish to govern in accordance with the Seventeen Article Constitution. 23 I have not changed my mind with respect to this resolution. I would dispel the chaos in the land and return it to its proper order. 24 ”

Minamoto no Shishi stopped her carriage at the Western Gate 25 < Perhaps to say the nembutsu.> 26 > At that time, I rode a horse out to the western shore and saw the ocean. 〈Today, I saw it for the first time. 27 > Without delay, I returned and went to the Turtle Well 28 and drank . With a mind full of compassion 29 , I drank it. I went to the Tonsured Former Regent’s lodgings. In that time, it got dark. I went to Minamoto no Shishi’s lodgings and then returned to my quarters.

This morning, when {Minamoto no Shishi, Lord Novice Tadazane, and Prince Kakuhō} were looking at the things in the treasury, there was a silk-padded night robe that had belonged to Prince Shōtoku. signaled some female attendants to rip a little piece off. The Tonsured Former Regent and the Dharma Prince commanded me, saying: “You should tear off some of this robe and take it as a protective charm.” I refused, saying: “Stealing from a temple, even for a protective charm, is a violation of precepts with respect to Buddhist law and a crime with respect to the royal law. 30 I cannot take it.”

  1. Forty-second day of the sexegenery cycle. ↩

  1. 9-11 AM. ↩

  1. This entry describes part of a trip that Yorinaga, his father Fujiwara no Tadazane, Tadazane’s primary wife Minamoto no Shishi took to Shitennōji, a major monastic complex in present-day Ōsaka. The lodgings refer to visitor quarters inside of the monastic complex. ↩

  1. Throughout this entry, Yorinaga refers to Minamoto no Shishi as kita no mandokoro 北政所 which means the primary wife of a high ranked official. In this case, it refers specifically to Fujiwara no Tadazane’s primary wife. ↩

  1. Zenkō 禅閤 is the polite form of address for a regent who has taken the tonsure but did not leave their home, that is, did not go to stay at a temple. ↩

  1. Fujiwara no Tadazane 藤原忠実 (1078-1162) was Yorinaga’s father ↩

  1. Hosshinnō 法親王 is a dharma prince, someone who was registered as part of the royal house only after he took the tonsure. ↩

  1. Kakuhō 覚法 was the son of Monarch Shirakawa and Minamoto no Shishi. ↩

  1. Rokujidō 六時堂 is literally “Six Times Hall” because prayers were held there six times a day. ↩

  1. Jikidō 食堂 refers to a building in the monastic complex that serves as a dining hall for the monks but also typically has Buddhist images inside. ↩

  1. Kōdō 講堂 is the building where sutras would be read and sermons given. ↩

  1. Here, tō 塔 refers to the five-story pagoda at Shitennōji, which is said to contain six grains of the Buddha’s ashes and six hairs from the head of Prince Shōtoku. The number six symbolizes the six realms of rebirth in Buddhism and Prince Shōtoku’s wish for the spiritual attainment of beings in all these realms (shitennoji.or.jp). ↩

  1. The name Shōryōin 聖霊院 literally means Temple of the Sacred Spirit. In this case, the “sacred spirit” refers specifically to Prince Shōtoku and the temple is often referred to simply as taishiden 太子殿, which means Prince Hall. ↩

  1. Here, Yorinaga writes Mantōin 万塔院 which literally means the Hall of Ten Thousand Towers. This is a homonym of the name of the hall 万灯院 (mantōin) which literally means the Hall of Ten Thousand Lanterns. It is quite likely that Yorinaga meant the latter even though he wrote the former. ↩

  1. Edō 画堂 is the picture hall at Shitennōji that displays paintings of scenes from the life of Prince Shōtoku on its walls. ↩

  1. “Lord” here points to Tadazane’s social station and “Novice” to his status as someone who has taken the tonsure. ↩

  1. This priest was in charge of temple business as well as taking care of clerics and noble guests (Ikumi Kaminishi, Explaining Pictures: Buddhist Propaganda and Etoki Storytelling in Japan (Honolulu, University of Hawai’i Press, 2006), 25). ↩

  1. A painting depicting numerous scenes from the life of Prince Shōtoku. Paintings like this appeared in many forms, including pictures painted on walls/sliding doors, hanging pictures, or picture scrolls. (日本国語大辞典). Kaminishi suggests that this version was painted on the walls/sliding doors of the Shitennōji Picture Hall (Ikumi Kaminishi, Explaining Pictures: Buddhist Propaganda and Etoki Storytelling in Japan (Honolulu, University of Hawai’i Press, 2006), 24). ↩

  1. The various scenes from Prince Shōtoku’s life were not arranged in a linear fashion in these paintings and so, a wooden stick was used to tap whatever scene the monk was describing. This tip of this pointer was sometimes covered in cotton to mitigate wear and tear on the painting (Ikumi Kaminishi, Explaining Pictures: Buddhist Propaganda and Etoki Storytelling in Japan (Honolulu, University of Hawai’i Press, 2006), 25). ↩

  1. This was either Minamoto no Shishi or Fujiwara no Tadazane. ↩

  1. Along with the Picture Hall, this hall is a part of the Temple of Prince Shōtoku’s Spirit. ↩

  1. It is customary to pay obeisance to Buddha three times, but because Prince Shōtoku is not a Buddha, Yorinaga did not do it a third time. ↩

  1. According to the Nihon Shoki, this constitution was authored by Prince Shōtoku and adopted by Suiko, the reigning monarch of the time. Rather than a list of laws, it is more focused on the virtues of a good ruler. So, in this prayer, Yorinaga wishes to be able to embody these virtues as a ruler. ↩

  1. Here, Yorinaga uses a compound phrase hatsuranhansei 撥乱反正 which appears in the Commentary of Gongyang (One of the three commentaries on The Spring and Autumn Annals). It means “dispel the chaos of the world and return it to its proper order.” ↩

  1. The Western Gate of Shitennōji is sometimes called the Pure Land Gate because it is said to be the Eastern Gate of Amida Buddha’s Pure Land—a paradise where your needs are all fulfilled and it is much easier to achieve enlightenment than in our world. ↩

  1. Nembutsu is a term referring to the call to Amida Buddha, namu amida butsu 南無阿弥陀仏. Before he became a Buddha, Amida made a vow that anyone who calls on him would be reborn in his Pure Land. Only a few decades after this entry takes place, Hōnen would go on to argue that the nembutsu ought to be the only practice of Pure Land Buddhism but in Yorinaga’s time, it was simply one of many practices. ↩

  1. It is not clear whether he’s seeing the ocean for the first time ever or if he is seeing the ocean coming from Shitennōji for the first time. Because Kyoto is relatively far from the ocean, it is possible that he had never seen the ocean but this is not made explicit here. ↩

  1. The Turtle Well features a large turtle-shaped basin. Water flows into it from a spring under Shitennōji’s main hall. ↩

  1. Although “compassion” is the most common translation for jihi 慈悲, it also has the broader meaning of “benevolence” or “good will.” This sort of compassion is an important virtue of the Bodhisattva, a being who postpones enlightenment in order to help other beings escape from suffering. ↩

  1. The Buddhist law and secular or “royal” law are frequently brought up together to signal the totality of laws that govern proper conduct. ↩

Original text 原文

康治二年十月二十二日条

廿二日、〈乙巳、〉晴、巳刻参北政所御所、先是禅閤及法親王坐之、取出宝蔵物御覧之、有希有之物等、次北政所参御六時堂、余同参候御供、此間余向食堂見之、〈此間修造、乃先〔仍無〕仏事〔等〕、〉次参御講堂、〈余同、〉次参御塔、〈余同、〉次参御聖霊院、余路次参万塔院、北政所先参御画坐〔堂〕、禅閤及法親王坐砌下、〈入道殿忠実乍手轝給〔御〕之、法親王敷候坐之、〉本寺権上座某持楚指画説之、余依仰昇坐〔堂〕上、有不審之時問之、北政所乍車引立聴聞之、良久説了、甲斐権守信範 [平] 取被給之、

次北政所参御聖霊堂、〈乍車引立、凡北政所参御講坐〔諸堂〕之時、侍男共引之、督〔暫〕乍車引立、入道殿乗手轝給、依行歩不叶也、〉余昇堂上、奉礼聖霊二度、〈用拝太子之礼、仍不三拝、〉祈請云、若接〔摂〕録天下之時、願任十七条憲法行之、此心無変、令天下撥乱反正矣、次北政所立車於西門、〈若御念仏歟、〉于時余騎馬出西浜見海、〈今日始見、〉少時還向亀井飲之、起慈悲心飲之、参禅閤御所、此間及昏黒、参北政所御所、還休廬、今旦御覧宝蔵物之時、有太子御衾衣綿、示女房等少分破之、禅閤・法親王命予曰、此衾少可割取、可為護之故也、余辞曰、為片〔護カ〕身盗取寺物、於仏教破戒、於王法有罪世〔也〕、不能取之、

Kundoku 訓読

康治二年十月二十二日条

廿二日、〈乙巳きのとみ。〉晴。巳みの刻に北政所 きたのまんどころ 1 の御所に参る。是より先、禅閤 2 及び法親王 3 これに坐おはす。宝蔵の物を取り出しこれを御覧ず。希有の物等有り。

次いで北政所、六時堂ろくじどう 4 に参り御たまう。余、同じく御供おともに参候 5 す。此の間に、余、食堂じきどうに向かいてこれを見る。〈此の間修造す。仍よって仏等は無し。〉

次いで講堂に参り御う。〈余も同じ。〉次いで塔に参り御う。〈余も同じ。〉次いで聖霊院しょうりょういん 6 に参り御う。余、路の次いでに万塔院まんとういん 7 に参る。北政所は先に画堂えどう 8 に参り御う。

禅閤及び法親王は砌下せいか 9 に坐おはす。〈入道殿 10 は手輿たごし 11 乍ながらこれに御おわし、法親王はこれに坐を敷き候ず 12 。〉本寺の権上座ごんじょうざ 13 某なにがし、楚すわえ 14 を持って画えを指しこれを説く。余、仰せに依りて堂上に昇り、不審有るの時これを問う。北政所は車 15 乍ながら引き立てこれを聴聞ちょうもんす。良やや久しくして説きおわり、甲斐権守かいのごんのかみ信範 [平] 16 、被かづけ 17 を取りてこれを給う。

次で、北政所きたのまんどころ聖霊堂しょうりょうどう 18 に参りたまう。〈車ながら引き立つ。凡およそ北政所、諸堂に参りたまうの時、侍の男おのこ共これを引き、暫しばらく、車ながら引き立つ。入道殿にゅうどうどのは手輿たごしに乗り給う。行歩こうほ叶わざるに依りてなり。〉余は堂上に昇り、聖霊 19 に礼を奉ること二度、〈太子を拝むの礼を用う。仍て三拝せず。〉祈請して云わく、若し天下を摂録せつろく 20 するの時あらば、十七条憲法に任せてこれを行わん。此の心変ることなし。天下をして撥乱反正はつらんはんせい 21 せしむ。

次で北政所、車を西門 22 に立つ。〈若しは御念仏か。〉時に余、騎馬きばし、西浜に出て、海を見ゆ。〈今日始めて見ゆ。〉少時しょうじ、亀井 23 に還り向かい、これを飲む。慈悲じひの心を起して、これを飲む。禅閤の御所に参る。此の間に昏黒こんこくに及ぶ。北政所の御所に参り、休廬きゅうろ 24 に還る。

今旦こんたん、宝蔵の物を御覧の時、太子の御衾ふすまの衣の綿 25 有り。女房等に示して少分しょうぶんこれを破る。禅閤ぜんこう・法親王ほっしんのう予に命じて曰く、此の衾ふすま少し割さき取るべし。護まもりとなすべきの故ゆえなり。余辞して曰く、護身のために寺の物を盗み取るは、仏教に於いては破戒はかい、王法おうぼう 26 に於いては有罪なり。これを取る能わず、と。

Modern Japanese 現代語訳

二十二日。〈乙巳きのとみ。〉晴れ。午前十時頃に、北政所の｛四天王寺滞在中の｝御所に参った。それ以前に禅閤と法親王はいらっしゃっていた。宝蔵の物を取り出し、それらを御覧になっていた。珍しいものなどもあった。

それから、北政所は六時堂に向かわれた。私もお供した。この｛お供をしている｝間に、私は食堂に立ち寄ってそこを見た。〈｛食堂は｝このところ修復中で、そのため仏像などが無い。〉次に｛北政所は｝講堂に向かわれた。〈私も同行した。〉次に塔に向かわれた。〈私も同行した。〉次に聖霊院に向かわれた。私はその｛聖霊院へ行く｝道すがら、｛一行と別れて｝万塔院に寄った。北政所は先に画堂に向かわれていた。｛そして私も万塔院から一行と再合流した。｝

禅閤と法親王は｛画堂の｝軒下の石畳の上におられる。〈入道殿は手輿に乗ったままそこにいらっしゃる。法親王はそこに座を敷いて控えている。〉この寺の権上座の某が、枝を片手に｛聖徳太子の伝記になっている｝絵を指しながらその説明をする。私は、｛北政所の｝指示により堂上に上り、疑問点があれば質問をした。北政所は車に乗ったまま停めて、｛その某の解説を｝お聞きになっている。しばらくして、解説が終わり、甲斐権守信範のぶのりが褒美の品を取りついで、｛某に｝賜った。

次に、北政所きたのまんどころは聖霊堂しょうりょうどうにお参りなさった。〈｛北政所は｝車にお乗りになったままであった。たいてい、北政所が諸堂にお参りなさる時には、侍の男たちが車を引き、暫しばらくの間、｛北政所は｝車にお乗りになったままでいらっしゃる。入道殿にゅうどうどのは手輿たごしにお乗りになっている。{お二人とも} 歩行が難しいためである。〉私は堂上に昇って、聖霊に二度お辞儀をした。〈｛聖徳｝太子を、拝礼する方法を用いた。よって｛仏にするように｝三度はお辞儀をしなかった。〉｛その際、｝祈願して言った、「天下を掌握した時には、｛聖徳太子が作られた｝憲法十七条の精神に則り天下を治めます。この決心は変わりません。天下の乱れを直し正しい世に戻します。」と。

次に北政所は西門で車をお止めになった。〈ご念仏のためか。〉その時に、私は馬で西の浜に出て、海を見た。〈今日始めて見た。〉少しして戻って亀井に向かい、その水を飲んだ。慈悲じひの心を込めて飲んだ。｛そのあと｝禅閤の｛四天王寺滞在中の｝御所に参った。その間に｛日が暮れて、｝真っ暗になった。｛そして｝北政所の｛四天王寺滞在中の｝御所に参り、自分の｛四天王寺の｝宿所に戻った。

今朝、宝蔵の物を御覧になっていた時、｛聖徳｝太子の、綿がつまった夜着のひときれがあり、女房等に指示して少し破らせた。禅閤ぜんこう・法親王ほっしんのうが私におっしゃるには、「この夜着を少し切り取ってはどうですか。お護りになりますよ。」という。私は断って言った。「お護りのためとは言え、寺の物を盗み取るのは、仏法においては破戒、王法においては有罪です。｛これを｝取ることはできません。」と。