Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-23

| his imperial ancestors that he. the
rightful heir, is in possession OF the
Scored Treasures and is about to ascend
the throne. This is purely religious
ritual He makes a holy promise in
the nature Of a prayer that his reign
will be patterned after the virtues sym
| bolized in the three insignia. On his
emergence from the shrine, cannon an
nounce the accession and the whole
nation rejoiceS.
| Medals are struck to commemorate
the event and bear suitable decorations
of the traditional sort. One OF these
| medals is presented to each invited
guest as a souvenir of the honor that
has come to him, and, curiously enough,
the right to wear the medal is in
heritable. The guests are invited with
the traditional rigid etiquette in mind.
Among those privileged are repre-
sentativeS of foreign powers, princes Of
the blood, holders of decorations (this
includes foreign holders of japanese
decorations also), direct appointees,
citizens of the rank of ichii, ducal rank,
president and vice president of the Diet
and the prefectural councils. At the
coronation of Taisho Tenno in 1915
there we're about 100 persons present.
NEWSPAPERS were also allowed to send
representatives.
The second ceremony consists Of the
actual enforcement. In the ShlShln-
den purple Eaves HalD Hirohito will
ascend the Takami Kura, the honorable
high throne. Here the robe he wears
is red. a deep maroon silk bearing the
same imperial design that graced the
| first robe At his side the Emperor
has the imperial insignia and IN his
hand he holds an ivory Shaku. THIS
baton is symbol Of his office, but again
we note the religious origin FOR, like
the headdress we find that it is not an
exclusive privilege, although it appears
to have imperial significance. Mobiles
down through the fifth rank may use
the ivory Shaku.
Description Of Throne.
This time. in the actual presence OF
| the peers. he aScendS the throne. the
throne rests on a black lacquer dalS
approached by about four shallow steps.
| The dais is rallied and highly decorated
with phoenix and other ancient de-
signs. The throne itself is eight-Sided,
of red lacquer and embellished with
decorations. The roof is supported at
| the angles and the open sides are cur
| tanned with silk which was drawn DacX
| in the last coronation. allowing the
|
angle of the roof and on the peak Is
a golden cock, as a reward for the
| important part the cock played oy
Growing when the Sun Goddess APP
peared.
The premier, as representative OF the
assembiage, approaches the throne and
makes a deep obeisance. At this signal
the Emperor reads his first formal re-
script. which again is an announcement
of his accession and reiteratlon OF
his pledge. Thus he makes solemn
promise not only to his ancestors DuC
| to his subjects also. At the conclusion
| the premier aScendS the dals ana makes
a reply for the people, IN when ne
| acknowledges that the Emperor displays
the desired qualities so beautifully SYM
bolized in the Sacred Treasures He as
slres the Emperor that the people are
loval. At this ceremony the actual &C
cession is completed.
Observes Third Ceremony.
The third ceremony departs from the
| first two in that the Emperor Is an
observer. At the time OF the reappear-
ance of Amaterasu, the Sun Godoess,
it was a dance that really brought her
ont of the cave and put an end to the
dreaded eclipse. That dance has come
down through the religious history OF
japan and appears in Shinto rituals.
| It is always performed at the corona
| ton. This Kagura dance, as it is called,
has developed into a pantomimic dance
that portrays dramatically many OF the
high spots in the adventures OF Japa-
nese heroes. 1t lasts about 10 hours
and is performed by several dancers
The graceful posturing Is enacted before
| the Kashikodokoro.
In the fourth ceremony the Emperor
again becomes the protagoniSt. This
event is called the Chin Konsai (ritual
of soul pacification. The simplicity
of the symbolism stirs the fancy, per-
haps. even more than the others. The
Emperor stands in his heavy padded
| silk robes and slowly turns about. AT
| each of the eight points of the compass
| he pauses and shakes his robes in order
that he may free himself from all i'm
purities. BY this act he gains peace
of soul, and thus cleansed, he Is able
| to commence righteous and prosper
Gus reign There is something charming
in this, as though the spotless white
silk gained purity from the will Of its
| wearer.
The fifth ceremony takes us back to
primitive Shinto ritual. 1t is called the
| Daiposai, or Thanksgiving The Emperor
performs the thanksgiving in the strict
| est solitude For the purpose, building
which we would describe as long cabin
is put up 1t is made of the rudeSt
wooden material. joined by wooden pegs
| and bound together by vines. Standing
as it does on sanctified ground, lighted
by uncertain pickering pine torches,
the humble nature of the Emperor'S
communion with his ancestors is en-
phasized. He wears pure white raw silk
because that is the purest material
known. He remains throughout the
night, first feasting with his imperial
| ancestors and then praying.
Two banquetS. one purely Japanese
and the other European In every detail
are celebrated after the conclusion of
the ceremonies.
Visits Various ShrineS.
On November 20 the Emperor starts
his visit to the various Shrines. The
first visit is to the Shrine of Use. This
is a purely Shinto shrine, which has
been undefiled by other creeds. II is
| dedicated to the Sun Goddess and, as
mentioned above, holds within its sacred
walls the Sacred Mirror and the very
sacred image of the goddess. The
shrine of the first Emperor, Jimmu
Tenno, will also receive a visit Other
Shrines which the Emperor visits are
the shrines of Meiji (his own grand
father, Komei, and Ninko. He then
returns, on the twenty-sixth, to Toxic.
Here again he performs religious cere-
monies. this time at the sanctuaries
within the imperial palace. These occur
on the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth
On the thirtieth Of November the last
duty, which fittingly concludes the cere-
monies of accession, is his visit to the
Taisho Tenno Mausoleum, where his
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