Denryaku: Kōwa 2 {1100} 1.1

康和ニ年正月一日 Kōwa 2 {1100} 1.1
Translated by Emily Warren

First day. Tsuchinoe tatsu. ¹ Prayers to the Four Directions (Shihōhai) ² {were conducted}, the royal medicine offered, and the calendar (shichiyōreki) ³ presented. {There were} New Year’s greetings to His Majesty (Kochōhai), ⁴ a banquet, the augury of the ice blocks, ⁵ and ceremonial offerings of fish (haraka). ⁶ The ministries of both civil and military officials brought appointment registers for capital and provincial officials. ⁷ The weather was clear. I washed up early in the morning and donned my cap. The rituals were as usual.

1. Also read boshin. This is the fifth day of the sexegenery cycle. ↩

1. This was an annual event for New Year’s Day. Dressed in formal attire, the tennō bowed to his affinite star 属星 (zokushō), the four directions, and his parent’s mausoleum, to pray to ward off disaster in the coming year. ↩

1. Also called Shichiyō no goryaku 七曜の御暦. This is another annual event of the New Year. The Residential Palace Affairs Ministry 中務省 submitted this calendar for the tennō’s personal use. ↩

1. Originally, the chōhai 朝拝 was a New Year’s Day event where officialdom came to the palace to greet the tennō. In the early tenth century, this rite fell out of practice, but it was resurrected in the 920s. There were biannual greeting events, the chōhai and the kochōhai 小朝拝, or an abbreviated greeting rite. By the reign of Ichijõ Tennō, only the kochōhai, which is seen here, was being conducted. ↩

1. These ice blocks were shipped from ice houses throughout the Kinai region that were run by the Water Office 主水司 (Shusuishi) and this rite consisted of analyzing the size of ice blocks to see how the year would go. ↩

1. This fish, either trout or croaker, was sent as an offering from the Dazaifu. ↩

1. The Shikibushō was in charge of civil officials. The Hyobushō was in charge of military officials. ↩

Original 原文
一日、戊辰 、四方拜、供御藥、七曜曆奏、小朝拜、宴會、氷檨、腹赤、式兵兩省進內外官。任補帳、天晴、早旦手水、着冠、例事如常。

Kundoku 訓読
一日、戊辰つちのえたつ 。四方拜しほうはい、御薬を供くうず、七曜曆しちようれきの奏、小朝拜こちょうはい、宴會えんかい、氷様ひのためし、腹赤はらか。式兵両省、内外官ないげかん補任帳を進すすむ。 ここまでは年中行事注 天晴れ。早旦そうたん手水ちょうずし、冠を着す。例事れいじ常の如し。