Text of the Oath Declared by Sovereign and Ministers in the Twelfth Month of the Sinmyo Year辛卯十二月日。君臣盟告文。
右下土臣某等。熏沐齋戒。謹頓首再拜。哀龥于皇天上帝及一切靈官。夫禍福無門。惟人所召。今者以臣等不肖之故。天降喪亂于國家。彼達旦之頑種。無故犯境。殘敗我邊鄙。殺戮我人民。侵淫至于京畿。騰蹂四郊。如虎擇肉。民之被劫物故者。狼籍于道。君臣思所以捍禦之計。倉惶罔知所圖。但把膝環顧。長大息而已。且達旦嘗有恩於我耳。非有所憾者。而一旦更加殘虐如此。豈偶然者耶。向所謂臣等不肖所致然也。噫。旣往不可追。庶幾從此已後。勿復行非法之事。以此請命于上天。天若不甚處劉我國。則其終忍而不矜耶。所可得行而爲戒者。備載于文底。盟于上天。惟帝其鑑之。
We, the subjects so-and-so of the land below, having perfumed ourselves with incense and bathed and fasted, reverently bow our heads and bow twice, and cry out in sorrow and declare it to the High Emperor of Heaven and to all the numinous officers (靈官).
Now calamity and blessing have no separate gate by which they enter; it is men alone who call them. Now, because of our folly, Heaven has sent down death and disorder upon the country. That stubborn tribe of the Dadan (達旦) has transgressed our borders without cause, has broken our frontier and killed our people. Spreading little by little they have come near to the capital, trampling the fields of all four quarters and choosing as a tiger chooses its meat. Of the people, those plundered and killed lie scattered in confusion along the roads. Sovereign and ministers think upon devices to hold them off, yet in our confusion we do not know what to plan, and only clasp our knees and look about us and sigh long.
Moreover, the Dadan had once had kindness from us and had nothing to resent of us, and yet in a single morning they harm us as cruelly as this: how should this be a chance thing? It has come about, as said above, because we your subjects were foolish.
Ah — what is past cannot be pursued; and so we pray that from now onward we shall do no more that is against the law. By this we ask a command of Heaven. If Heaven does not truly mean to cut our country down and make an end of it, will it not bear with us at last and have pity? What we can do and shall hold as our restraints is set down in full below this writing, and we swear it to Heaven: may the High Emperor look upon it.
Interlinear notes 1
其所戒有十二條。於此不錄。
The matters to be guarded against are twelve items, which are not carried here.