The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-11-13
Japanese Christians Among Those Decorated by
 the Emperor
SACRED RICE OFFERED IMPERIAL ANCESTORS
Ceremony Is an Offering of First Har- vest of Emperor's Reign Over Land of the Sacred Rice to
 Gods and Bookcases

Washington, November 12--Presidcnk l Wilson today received message from the Emperor of Japan thanking him | for his congratulations on the access l sion of the Emperor to the throne and expressing tho hope that the good re- | iations between the two countries may continue. The Emperor's message fol- lows:
 'l sincerely thank you for the kind congratulations on the ceremonies of my accession to the throne. At the same time I reciproeate my best wishes for
 your personal welfare and the invari- ! ability of the friendship which is uni ted by the bond of amcable relations subsisting between our two countries The President had sent message to the Emperor earlier wishing him a
 long and happy reign.
 The Daijosai Festival Kioto, November 13.-The Daijosal festival, or grand thanksgiving fes- tival, the ceremony of offering sacred l rice to the imperial ancestors and the gods and goddesses of heaven and earth. began today at the imperial pal ace. This ceremony is one of the three great rites of the coronation and is 1 of very ancient origin.
 | When Ninigino- mikoto. the grandson | of the sun goddess, Amaterasu omi- 1 Sami. founder of the Japanese imperial dynasty, descended from the heavenly domain, as 1t is traditionally told, to I Mount Talsachiho, in Kyushu, and es- tablshed imperial headquarters there. | he sowed the seeds of rice plants and presented the first crop to the sun god l dess before himself tasting the food. ] This was the very beginning of the
 Daijosai festival.
 l Rice constitutes the most important
 daily food of the Japanese people. and | the land was, in the physiological pe- riod called the Land of Sacred Rice. Siuco that time the cereinony Is ob-
 1 served as an essential function by ev-
 1 cry 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 1 najesty's succession.
 | Offering to Ancestors l 1 Emperor, invested with the suzerainty of the Land of the Sacred Rice, offers l to the imperial ancestors and the gods ! and goddesses of heaven and earth the | first crop of the first harvest i'll his reign. It Is, therefore. observed as 1 state ceremony and not as a court ceremony.
 Related to it is ceremony of minor l importance, which Is annually held Tn the imperial court on November 2S and simultaneously at the grand shrines at Ise. 1t is called the harvest festival As the rice on which sixty millions of the subjects of the imperial house sus- tain their lives had been granted by the imperial ancestor, as related above, every sovereign of the land expresses his thanks for the benevolence of the imperial ancestor in behalf of his mil- lions of subjects.
 To pray for the plentitude Of har- vest the Emperor holds a ceremony on February IF every year before the I'm perial sanctuary and the grand an cestral shrines, beseeching an abund- ance during the coming harvest. The ceremony 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 pre- served as a national holiday Grand Harvest Ceremony Tomorrow Today's ceremony was preparatory l to the grand harvest festival, which takes place tomorrow.
 It is called the "Chinkon -sai. Its pur- port is prayer for the longevity of the Emperor, the Empress and the Grown 1 Prince, and the purification of their body and soul The ceremony was held | at the Yulxi-d den and Suk-den halls. newly erected in the compound of the palace It was purely religious func- l ton and was officiated by the court ritualists and attended by chief officials of the coronation committee. The Elm
 peror and Crown Prince did not par ticipate.
 l The halls had been previously puriL
 fled 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 sword a bow, an arrow, bell CO., coon, a roll of raw silk cloth and a
 roll of hemp cloth and then some food | offerings were presented before the
 | altar. the musicians all the while play ing Shnto music.
 Sacred Rites
 | The chief ritualist then, ascending l the stand in front of the altar, read d
 Shinto prayer for the perpetuity Of l the imperial reign the longevity of the Emperor. the Empress and the Grown Prince and the prosperity of the inn pariaI house Presently were brought 1 into the hall a strip of the cloth used 1 in the Emperor's robe and tablet rep resenting his majesty. These were placed in sacred case. The ritualists clapped their hands eight times and the curtains around the stand were dropped. Then the ritualists performed the cere- mony of making knots with threads each making 10 knots. One of them struck the sacred case 10 times with a sword and taking out the tablet, put | 1t back in the box in which 1t had been | brought in The curtains around the stand were then removed and a ritualist. taking out the imperial cloth from the | box. shook it before the sacred presence of the gods 0 times. and then returned lit to its box. The imperial cloth and the | tablet were then removed The cloth and tablets of the Empress and Crown Prince were given the same religious treatment.
 l Subsequently, and finally q brief cers- mony was performed for the happy de- parture of the spirits of the gods. Christian Priests
 L American missionaries here have T- x~& Al