The Kamigoto
Background and Translation

"Kamigoto" literally means "Words of Kami," implying divine communication. The Kamigoto, like the Amatsunorito, comes from the Shinto tradition. And as with the Amatsunorito, Meishusama modified this chant to increase its potency. The two chants can be thought of as fraternal twins. Both have the capacity to purify spiritual clouds, rejuvenate our spiritual energy, and align us with truth. Chanting either of these prayers generates a sound that purifies our surroundings and prepares us to receive Divine Light. Although its tones and meter are different from the Amatsunorito, the Kamigoto can be regarded as the Amatsunorito's bigger brother.

              The chant has a loose episodic narrative and is a request for divine intervention to purify the earth, the body, and the spirit, sullied because of some indiscretion. The poem calls on kami­deities to intervene and dissipate spiritual pollution.

This is a paraphrased version of the Kamigoto's text:

Words of the Kami

Kamurogi and Kamuromi, rulers of heaven

Called a meeting of the countless gods

And there expressed the wish

That their grandchild rule in peace

Over the land of many reeds and rich grain.

The gods of that land were outraged and rebelled.

So Kamurogi and Kamuromi expelled them all

Purging all treachery from every rock

And every tree, from root to leaf.

Then, rising from their heavenly thrones

They pressed aside the tiers of clouds

And placed their grandchild upon the earth

To rule the land.

Preparing for the new Sovereign's reign

Izanagi and Izanami pacified the land of

              the midday sun

Where the four quarters of the earth meet.

And there they set the columns of a palace in bedrock

Raising the structure's crossbeams to the skies.

And when the palace was finished

The grandchild took shelter there and ruled

              a placid land.

But even in that fair realm the sins of man and spirit

Multiplied, making the land heavy with misfortune.

And so, a purification ritual was performed.

Blocks of metal-hard wood were cut and

Arranged on sacred altars.

Twigs of hemp, chopped at both ends, were sliced.

And a fervent Amatsunorito was voiced.

And then as now, when we chant

Celestial spirits will push aside heaven's doors

And part the clouds to hear our words.

Earthly spirits will climb to the summits

And part the mist so that our words be heard.

And as heaven listens, every sin will vanish

As the gusts of wind dissipate the blankets of clouds

As the early and late breeze dissolves

              the mist of dawn and dusk

As the massive ship sails from the harbor,

              disappearing on the vast ocean

As the cluster of thickets are cleared from the hill by a

              fire­tempered sickle

No sin will remain.

Then, Seoritsu­hime, the spirit who lives

              in the river torrents

That plunge from the steep crests of the highest peaks

Will take these sins with her into the great sea.

And after she has taken them to the sea

Haya­akitsu­hime, who lives where all

              brackish currents meet

Will swallow them up with one grand gulp.

And after she has swallowed them whole

Ibukido­nushi, who lives at the edge of breath

Will blow them to the netherworld.

And after he has blown them to the netherworld

Haya­sasura­hime, who lives in the depths

              of the underworld

Will wander off and lose them.

And when she has lost them

Will plead that all the sins of

Body and mind be purified.

Thus, we humbly pray.

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