ぼさつ實がいればうつふく
人間實がいればあをのく
bosatsu mi ga ireba utsubuku, ningen mi ga ireba aonoku
Rice Bows When It Fills; a Man Looks Up
Abstract
ぼさつ實がいればうつふく、人間實がいればあをのく, when the grain fills, the bodhisattva bows its face; when a man fills, he looks up, is a common saying in which ぼさつ, 菩薩, bodhisattva, is another name for rice [1][2][3]. The earliest text read here that parallels it is a wife's rebuke in the 三河物語, a memoir drafted in 1622 and finished about 1625–26, read here in a typeset of 1912, with 佛法 where the later texts have ぼさつ and with other verbs, which I read as the same saying; the haikai handbook 毛吹草, with a preface of 1638 and printed in 1645, lists the pair (the copy read here is catalogued only to the 寛永–承応 years), and Nishikawa Joken 西川如見 cites it in the two of his books read here: in 1719 as a good admonition, just after saying that wealth gives no reason to be proud, and in a book with a preface of 1721 as the words a Shinto practitioner was said to have written on a prayer charm for a farmer who had moved into a new house, which the title follows [4][5][6][7]. In 1776 a book of popular fiction still quotes it as a 諺, a proverb [8]. I read it as a saying about what fullness does: the same filling that bows the rice lifts the man's chin.
A reading
The saying sets two things side by side under one verb, 實がいる, the grain fills, and lets them part only at the end: the rice bows, the man looks up [3][5]. The memoir and Joken's 町人嚢 turn it on a man whom rank or wealth has raised: a wife on her husband, a servant made steward over more than twenty villages, who plots against his lord; Joken on those who have laid up wealth and have no reason in it to be proud [4][6]. So the rice is not the subject; it is the measure, and the man is the one being measured. I read the bodhisattva's name for rice as part of the point, not a curiosity of vocabulary: the humble thing in the pair is called by the name of one who seeks enlightenment (whatever the name's origin: 日国's instance of 1614 gives it as the old Buddha's relics turned to rice), and the man, who fills in the same way, does the opposite [2]. The Japanese proverb 実るほど頭を垂れる稲穂かな, the more the rice ripens, the lower it hangs its head, keeps the rice and leaves out the man, and ことわざを知る辞典 reads the verse as this saying's observation taken one step further; that is the dictionary's inference, with its own でしょう, probably, and nothing read here shows the verse coming from the pair [1]. Signed, 典.
Overview
The sense. ことわざを知る辞典, explaining the proverb 実るほど頭を垂れる稲穂かな, quotes this saying from the 毛吹草 and glosses it: 稲が実ってくると穂を垂れるのに対し、人間のほうは地位が上になるほど態度が大きくなり、人に頭を下げたりしなくなるの意, as the rice ripens it hangs its ears, while a man, the higher his rank, the more overbearing his manner, and he no longer bows his head to others [1]. Nishikawa Joken in 1719, just after saying that wealth laid up gives no reason to be proud before others, calls the saying a good admonition [6]. 藤井乙男's 諺語大辞典 of 1910 gives the saying a headword of its own, with the later verbs, 【菩薩ミガイレバウツムキ人間ミガイレバアフムク】, and glosses it 菩薩は米をいふ、穀熟すれば其穗を垂れ、人富めば驕る, 菩薩 means rice: when the grain ripens it hangs its ears; when a man grows rich, he grows proud, citing the 毛吹草 and the book of 1776 [9].
The words. ぼさつ is 菩薩, bodhisattva; 精選版 日本国語大辞典 (日国) gives as its fifth sense 米の異称, another name for rice, with its first instance from the 慶長見聞集 of 1614: 古仏しゃりへんじてすでによねと成と説れたり。かるがゆへに人間は米をぼさつと云, it is taught that the relics of the old Buddha have changed and become rice; and therefore people call rice ぼさつ [2]. 實がいる (実が入る) is, in 日国's first sense, 実が熟する, the grain ripens, and 日国's first instance of it, from the early-seventeenth-century printing of the 毛詩抄, already joins it to the bowing ear: 実か入ればうなだるるぞ, when the grain fills, it hangs its head [3]. うつふく, read うつぶく, is in 日国 the same word as うつむく, 頭を前へ垂れる。顔を伏せる, to hang the head forward; to turn the face down; 日国 enters it as うつぶく, with an instance from the 宇治拾遺物語 of about 1221 [10]. あをのく, in today's spelling あおのく, is in 日国 the same as あおむく, which I gloss to turn the face up [11]. 人間 is the ordinary word for a person: 日国's second sense, 人界に住むもの。ひと。人類, one who lives in the human realm; a person; mankind, after a first sense that is Buddhist, the human realm as one of the six [12]. 實 is the older form of 実: the 字通 gives 實 as its 旧字 [13].
The text in English. No English rendering of the saying was found: the house's English full-text collection, 6,636 items from the Internet Archive, was searched for it in romaji and in English paraphrase, without a hit (the research record's § Sitting 2).
The historical record
1622 to about 1626. 『三河物語』, Ōkubo Tadataka 大久保忠教. The 三河物語 is the memoir of Ōkubo Tadataka (1560–1639), a bannerman of the Tokugawa house, written for his descendants [14][15]. The encyclopedias at kotobank date it between 1622 and about 1626, one of them saying that the autograph draft is dated 1622 and that the work was finished in 1625–26 [14]. It tells of a man who had been raised from a servant's rank, 中間, to be steward, 代官, over more than twenty villages, 奥郡廿餘郷, and who plotted against his lord. He told his wife that she would be called 御臺, my lady, and she answered him; as the typeset of 1912 prints her words [4]:
若も御臺といわれゝば祝言だが、いはれぬ時の不祝言はの、御身きゝ給へ。佛法は實がいればかたぶくと云ふ、人間は實がいれば反ると云は、御身之事成とて、其後物もいはず。
"If I am called my lady, that is a celebration; but the ill luck if I am not! Listen: they say the 佛法 tilts when it fills, and a man bends back when he fills. That is you." And after that she said nothing more. Here the rice is 佛法, the Buddha's law, and the verbs are かたぶく, to tilt, and 反る, to bend back. That 佛法 stands for rice in her words is my reading, from the parallel with 人間 and from the 菩薩 of the books that follow; the memoir does not say it.
1638 to 1645. The 毛吹草. The 毛吹草 is a handbook of haikai, with a preface of 1638 and printed in 1645 [16]. Its second book carries a list of common sayings, 世話付古語 [16]. In the University of Tokyo's copy, among other sayings, between しやりほつのちゑ, the wisdom of Śāriputra, and ねんりきハいはをとほす, will pierces rock, the pair stands in two lines [5]:
ほさつみがいればうつふく
にんげんみがいれはあをのく
The bodhisattva, when its grain fills, bows its face; a man, when he fills, looks up. The kana write ほさつ and うつふく without voicing marks; the verbs are うつふく and あをのく, the title's [5].
1719. 『町人嚢』, Nishikawa Joken 西川如見. Nishikawa Joken (1648–1724) was a scholar of astronomy and geography from Nagasaki; 町人嚢, his book of moral instruction for townsmen, was printed in 1719 [17][18]. In a passage on wealth and pride he writes that wealth laid up is laid up for oneself, and goes on [6]:
人にほこりたかぶるべき理なし世話にもぼさつ實がいれバうつぶき人間實がいれバあをのくといへるもよきいましめにこそとなん
There is no reason in it to be proud before others. The common saying, too, "the bodhisattva bows when its grain fills, a man looks up when he fills", is, they say, a good admonition. The print writes 實 in full both times, いれバ with a katakana バ, and the verb うつぶき with its voicing mark [6].
1721. 『百姓嚢』, the same author. 百姓嚢, a book of moral instruction whose title names farmers, 百姓, and which the encyclopedia names with 町人嚢 among the representative books of moral instruction of the period [18], carries a preface of 1721 in the 国書データベース's record, which also notes that printings with no date give 貝原益軒 as the author [19]. The National Diet Library's copy is undated, and its second book tells the story that gives the title its words [7][19]. As the typeset of 1898 prints its opening, a farmer who had built a new house and moved into it sent for a Shinto practitioner and asked him for a prayer charm, and the practitioner wrote one [20]. The woodblock goes on [7]:
札に奉修無上靈寶神道加持と書。其下に假名にて二行にぼさつ實がいればうつふく。人間實がいればあをのくと書たりとかや。見たる人の物語なり。誠に此野語、四民身をおさむる護身法、これに過たる守札有べからず。
On the charm he wrote the formula of a Shinto blessing, and under it, in kana, in two lines, "the bodhisattva bows when its grain fills; a man looks up when he fills", or so it is said; it is the account of one who saw it. Truly this rustic saying is a 護身法, a protective rite, by which the four classes order their own persons, and no charm can surpass it. He goes on: still more for farmers [7]. Joken relays it at second hand, とかや, so it is said, as the account of one who saw it, and calls the saying a 野語, a rustic word [7]. The two lines on the charm are the title's, word for word [7].
1776. 『世間仲人気質』, Nagaidō Kiyū 永井堂亀友. In this book of popular fiction, printed in Kyoto in 1776, the talk turns to rice, which bows when its grain fills, and goes on [8]:
諺に人間ハ實が入ルとあをむく。ぼさつハうつむくといふ事あり。是先天命自然と出し日本の教言なり。
There is a proverb: a man, when he fills, looks up; the bodhisattva bows. This, first of all, is a teaching of Japan, come forth of itself from heaven's decree. 藤井's dictionary of 1910, quoting the passage, prints 先 as まづ, first of all, and I follow it; the rendering is mine [9]. The verbs here are the later ones, うつむく and あをむく, and the saying is named a 諺, a proverb [8].
Notes
The forms of 實. The 1912 typeset of the 三河物語, the 1719 print of 町人嚢 and the 1898 typeset of 百姓嚢 write 實 [4][6][20]. The undated woodblock of 百姓嚢 and the 1776 block write it in a cursive form that is the same for 實 and 実, and both are quoted here as 實 [7][8]. 実 and 實 are one character, 実 the modern form [13].
The voicing marks of the 毛吹草. The print marks voicing only here and there: the ば of the first line's いれば carries a mark, the second line's いれは none, and ほさつ and うつふく none [5]. The readings ぼさつ and うつぶく are those of Joken's 1719 print, which marks them [6]; 日国 enters the verb as うつぶく [10], and 藤井 in 1910 prints ボサツ beside 菩薩 [9]. So the title is romanized as read, bosatsu mi ga ireba utsubuku; the kana keep the text's spelling.
The verbs. The witnesses read here use three pairs of verbs for the same two motions: the 三河物語 tilt and bend back (かたぶく, 反る); the 毛吹草 and Joken bow the face and look up (うつふく or うつぶく, あをのく); and the 1776 book the forms Japanese uses today, うつむく and あをむく, with the man named first [4][5][6][7][8][10][11]. 藤井's headword of 1910 takes the later bowing verb and writes the other アフムク: ウツムキ, アフムク [9].
Japanese Scrolls by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase
Sources not seen
中田祝夫 編, 『原本三河物語』, 勉誠社, 1970, a facsimile of the autograph with a transcription: it would show the wife's words as Ōkubo Tadataka wrote them, which the typeset of 1912 read here may have changed.
斎木一馬 校注, 『三河物語 葉隠』, 日本思想大系 26, 岩波書店, 1974: the same, in a critical edition.
『百姓嚢』, the printing of 享保16 (1731) that the 国書データベース lists, https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/work/1048959: it would show whether the dated printing writes the charm's two lines as the undated one does.
A reader with access to any of these is invited to write to Takase Studios at Tim@Takase.com.
References
- 「実るほど頭を垂れる稲穂かな」, デジタル大辞泉 and ことわざを知る辞典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%AE%9F%E3%82%8B%E3%81%BB%E3%81%A9%E9%A0%AD%E3%82%92%E5%9E%82%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B%E7%A8%B2%E7%A9%82%E3%81%8B%E3%81%AA-2131632
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- 『雑史集』 (続国民文庫), 国民文庫刊行会, 1912, 『三河物語』 第三下, pp. 212–213, scan 116, at the National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/925907/1/116
- 『毛吹草』, 東京大学総合図書館 copy (dated to the 寛永 to 承応 years in its catalogue record), canvas 61, at the 国書データベース. https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/100419933
- 西川如見, 『町人嚢』, 享保4 (1719), 名古屋大学附属図書館 神宮皇学館文庫 copy, canvas 37, at the 国書データベース. https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/100159255
- 西川如見, 『百姓嚢』 巻二, undated printing, scan 26, at the National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2536655/1/26
- 永井堂亀友, 『世間仲人気質』 5巻, 菊屋安兵衛ほか, 京, 1776, scan 49, at the National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2534223/1/49
- 藤井乙男 編, 『諺語大辞典』, 有朋堂, 1910, p. 916, scan 476, at the National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/862766/1/476
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- 「実」, デジタル大辞泉 and 字通, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%AE%9F-511534
- 「三河物語」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, 改訂新版 世界大百科事典 and other encyclopedias, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%89%E6%B2%B3%E7%89%A9%E8%AA%9E-138335
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- 「毛吹草」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and 改訂新版 世界大百科事典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%AF%9B%E5%90%B9%E8%8D%89-490969
- 「西川如見」, デジタル大辞泉, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%A5%BF%E5%B7%9D%E5%A6%82%E8%A6%8B-109399
- 「町人嚢」, 日本大百科全書 (ニッポニカ) and other encyclopedias, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%94%BA%E4%BA%BA%E5%9A%A2-98134
- 「百姓嚢」, work record, at the 国書データベース. https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/work/1048959
- 西川忠亮 編, 『西川如見遺書』 第八編, 百姓嚢, 西川忠亮, 1898, scan 32, at the National Diet Library. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/991288/1/32