祝詞 are Liturgy texts or ritual incantations in Shinto, usually addressed to a given kami.
History
The first written documentation of
norito dates to 712 CE in the
Kojiki and 720 CE in the
Nihongi.
The Engishiki, a compilation of laws and minute regulation presented by the court compiled in 927 CE, preserves twenty-seven representative forms of norito.[Philippi (1990). p. 1.]
Etymology
There is no single universally accepted theory to explain the meaning of the term.
[Philippi (1990). p. 2.] One theory derives
norito from
noru (, 'to declare'; cf. the verbs
'to pray' and 'to curse'
) - combined with the suffix
-to.
A variant term,
notto, is derived from a combination of
norito with
koto, 'word'.
There are various known ways of writing the word in kanji: aside from 祝詞 (currently the standard), 詔戸言, 詔刀言, and 諄辞 are also attested.
One recent writer summed up the original meaning of norito as "a general term meaning Kotodama."[Shiraishi, Mitsukuni, cited in Philippi (1990). p. 2.]
Form and content
The Shinto religion did not produce any writings, particularly those that inferred from myths and legends, that would have constituted a religious theology except for the norito.
(One should, however, note that the
Kojiki and the
Nihongi, while written primarily as historical works rather than sacred scriptures, do contain mythical narratives of the Shinto tradition.) These few prayers were primarily used in purification rituals and articulated gratitude towards the gods for the blessings of
kami or to ask for climate change such as rain.
Norito is a form of a rhythmic Poetry recited to facilitate the transmission of posterity.
Reading
Norito were (and still are) traditionally written in a variety of
man'yōgana where particles and suffixes are written in a smaller script than the main body of the text.
This style of writing, used in imperial edicts (宣命
senmyō) preserved in the
Shoku Nihongi and other texts dating from the 8th century (
Nara period), is known as
senmyōgaki.
See also
