Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1915-11-15
7 HANKS G|VING
SERVICES HAVE
IN JAPAN

| KIOTO. Nov 15-The Daijosal Fes-
tival or Grand Thanksgiving Festival,
the ceremony of offering sacred rice to
the imperial ancestors and the gods
and goddesses of heaven and earth, be-
gan today at the imperial palace. This
ceremony is one of the three great rites
OF the coronation and is of very ancient
origin.
Yhen Ninigino- mikoto, the grandson
of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu Omi-
kami, founder of Japanese imperial
dynasty, descended from the heavenly
domain, as it is additionally told, TO
Mount Takachiho, in Kyushu, and es-
tablished imperial headquarters there,
Re sowed the seeds of rice plants and
presented the first crop to the Sun
Goddess before himself tasting the
food. This was the very beginning of
the Daijosai festival.
Rice continues the most iportant
daily food of the Japanese people, and
the land was, in the neurological per-
iod, called the Land of Sacred Rice.
Since that time the ceremony is observ-
ed as an essential function by every
ruler who succeeds to the throne The
rite was ordained by an imperial edict
issued by Emperor Mutsuhito in 1871,
three years after his late Majestys
succession.
The central idea is that the new En-
peror, invested with the suzerainty of
the Land of the Sacred Rice, offers to
the imperial ancestors and the gods
and goddesses of heaven and earth the
first crop of the first harvest in his
reign 1t is therefore observed as a
state ceremony and not as court GER
emory.
Related to it is a ceremony of minor
Importance, which is annually held in
the imperial court on November %
and simultaneously at the grand
shrines at Ise. 1t is called the harvest
festival. AS the rice on which sixty
1aillions of the subjects of the imper-
ial souse sustain their lives had been
granted by the imperial ancestors, as
related above, every sovereign of the
land expresses his thanks for the ben
evidence of the imperial ancestor in
behalf of his millions of subjects.
To pray for the plentitude of harvest
the Emperor holds a ceremony on Feb
urary II every year before the imperial
sanctuary and the grand ancestral
shrines, beseeching an abundance dur
ing the coming harvest. The cere-
mony and the harvest festival are
widely observed in every Shinto shrine
through the length and breadth of the
empire on the same day, which is
preserved as a national holiday
Today's ceremony was preparatory
to the grand harvest festival, which
takes place tomorrow.
1t is caller the 'Chinkon-sai Its
purport is prayer for the longevity of
the Emperor, the Empress and the
Crown Prince, and the publication of
their body and soul. The ceremony
was held at the Yuki-den and Suk-den
halls, NEWLY erected in the COM
pound of the palace. 1t was purely
religious function and was officiated
by the court r1tual1StS ana attended by
ell ief officials of the coronation COM
nlittee The Emperor and Crown
Prince did not participate.
The halls had been previously pur-
flied. After the spirits of several gods
had been called to the sanctuary, the
musicians played sacred Shinto music
On harp and flute with an occasional
accompaniment of sacred bells Next
a sword, bow, an arrow, bell,
cocoon, a roll of raw silk cloth and
roll of hemp cloth and then some food
oqerings were presented before the
altar, the musicians all the while play.
ing Shinto music.
The chief ritualist then, ascending
the stand in front of the altar, read
Cbfptp prayar for the nprDptuity 0F