page_title: Emperor of Japan
section_title: Burial traditions
hierarchical_section_title: Emperor of Japan / Burial traditions
caption_attribution_description: English: The Musashi-ryo is the tombs of former Tennō. This location is entrance of Musashi-ryo in Nagabusa-machi, Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan. 日本語: 東京都八王子市長房町武蔵陵墓地入口付近。
context_page_description: The Emperor of Japan is the Head of State and the Head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as "the Symbol of the State and of the unity of the people" and his title is derived from "the will of the people, who are the sovereign". Imperial Household Law governs the line of imperial succession. The Supreme Court does not have judicial power over him. He is also the Head of the Shinto religion. In Japanese, the Emperor is called Tennō, literally "heavenly sovereign" or "Emperor of God". The Japanese Shinto religion holds him to be the direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu. The Emperor is also the Head of all National Japanese orders, decorations, medals, and awards. In English, the use of the term Mikado for the emperor was once common but is now considered obsolete.
  Currently, the Emperor of Japan is the only Head of State in the world with the Highest Monarchical Title of "Emperor". The Imperial House of Japan is the oldest continuing monarchical house in the world.
context_section_description: During the Kofun period, so-called "archaic funerals" were held for the dead emperors, but only the funerary rites from the end of the period, which the chronicles describe in more detail, are known. They were centered around the rite of the mogari (殯), a provisional depository between death and permanent burial.
  Empress Jitō was the first Japanese imperial personage to be cremated (in 703). After that, with a few exceptions, all emperors were cremated up to the Edo period. For the next 350 years, in-ground burial became the favoured funeral custom. Until 1912, the emperors were usually buried in Kyoto. From Emperor Taishō onward, the emperors have been buried at the Musashi Imperial Graveyard in Tokyo.
  In 2013, the Imperial Household Agency announced that Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko would be cremated after they die.
caption: Entrance of the Musashi Imperial Graveyard in Hachiōji, Tokyo
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