Classic Poem

Hear me, all of you assembled princes of the blood, princes, court nobles,
and all officials. Thus I speak.
The various sins perpetrated and committed
by those who serve in the Emperor's court,
the scarf-wearing women attendants,
the sash-wearing men attendants,
the quiver-bearing guard attendants,
the sword-bearing guard attendants,
as well as all those who serve in various offices —
These sins are to be exorcised, are to be purified
in the great exorcism of the last day of the Sixth Month of this year —
Hear me, all of you. Thus I speak.
By the command of the Sovereign Ancestral Gods and Goddesses,
who divinely remain in the High Heavenly Plain,
the eight myriad deities were convoked in a divine convocation,
consulted in a divine consultation,
and spoke these words of entrusting:
" Our Sovereign Grandchild is to rule
the Land of the Plentiful Reed Plains of the Fresh Ears of Grain
tranquilly as a peaceful land. "
Having thus entrusted the land,
they inquired with a divine inquiry
of the unruly deities of the land,
and expelled them with a divine expulsion;
they silenced to the last leaf
the rocks and the stumps of the trees,
which had been able to speak,
and caused him to descend from the heavens,
leaving the heavenly rock seat,
and pushing with an awesome pushing
through the myriad layers of heavenly clouds —
thus they entrusted the land to him.
The lands of the four quarters thus entrusted,
Great Yamato, the Land of the Sun-Seen-on-High,
was pacified and made a peaceful land;
the palace posts were firmly planted on the bedrock below,
the crossbeams soaring high toward the High Heavenly Plain,
and the noble palace of the Sovereign Grandchild constructed,
where, as a heavenly shelter, as a sun shelter, he dwells hidden,
and rules the kingdom tranquilly as a peaceful land.
The various sins perpetrated and committed
by the ever-increasing people to come into existence
in this land which he is to rule tranquilly as a peaceful land:
First, the heavenly sins:
breaking down the ridges,
covering up the ditches,
releasing the irrigation sluices,
double planting,
setting up stakes,
skinning alive, skinning backward,
defecation —
many sins such as these are distinguished and called the heavenly sins.
The earthly sins:
The earthly sins:
cutting living flesh, cutting dead flesh,
white leprosy, skin excrescences,
the sin of violating one's own mother,
the sin of violating one's own child,
the sin of violating a mother and her child,
the sin of violating a child and her mother,
the sin of transgression with animals,
woes from creeping insects,
woes from the deities of on high,
woes from the birds of on high,
killing animals, the sin of witchcraft —
many sins such as these shall appear.
When they thus appear,
by the heavenly shrine usage,
let the Great Nakatomi cut off the bottom and cut off the top
of heavenly narrow pieces of wood,
and place them in abundance on a thousand tables;
let him cut off the bottom and cut off the top
of heavenly sedge reeds
and cut them up into myriad strips;
and let him pronounce the heavenly ritual, the solemn ritual words.
When he thus pronounces them,
the heavenly deities will push open the heavenly rock door,
and pushing with an awesome pushing
through the myriad layers of heavenly clouds,
will hear and receive these words.
Then the earthly deities will climb up
to the summits of the high mountains and to the summits of the low mountains,
and pushing aside the mists of the high mountains and the mists of the low mountains,
will hear and receive these words.
When they thus hear and receive,
then, beginning with the court of the Sovereign Grandchild,
in the lands of the four quarters under the heavens,
each and every sin will be gone.
As the gusty wind blows apart the myriad layers of heavenly clouds;
as the morning mist, the evening mist is blown away by the morning wind, the evening wind;
as the large ship anchored in the spacious port is untied at the prow and untied at the stern
and pushed out into the great ocean;
as the luxuriant clump of trees on yonder hill
is cut away at the base with a tempered sickle, a sharp sickle —
as a result of the exorcism and the purification,
there will be no sins left.
They will be taken into the great ocean
by the goddess called Lady Seori,
who dwells in the rapids of the rapid-running rivers
which fall surging perpendicular
from the summits of the high mountains and the summits of the low mountains.
When she thus takes them,
they will be swallowed with a gulp
by the goddess called Lady Hayaaki,
who dwells in the wild brine, the myriad currents of the brine,
in the myriad meeting-place of the brine of the many briny currents.
When she thus swallows them with a gulp,
the deity called Lord of Ibukido,
who dwells in Ibukido, the Place of Blowing,
will blow them away with his breath to the land of Hades, the underworld.
When he thus blows them away,
the deity called Lady Hayasasura,
who dwells in the land of Hades, the underworld,
will wander off with them and lose them.
When she thus loses them,
beginning with the many officials serving in the Emperor's court,
in the four quarters under the heavens,
beginning from today,
each and every sin will be gone.
Holding the horses,
which stand listening,
pricking up their ears toward the High Heavenly Plain,
hear me, all of you:
know that all of the sins have been exorcised and purified
in the great exorcism performed in the waning of the evening sun
on the last day of the Sixth Month of the year. Thus I speak.
Oh diviners of the four lands,
carry them out to the great river
and cast them away. Thus I speak.