Althouse: "Their steps ringing out on the polished wooden floor, imperial chamberlains then carried in two of Japan’s three sacred treasures — a sword representing valor and a jewel representing benevolence..."

April 30, 2019

"Their steps ringing out on the polished wooden floor, imperial chamberlains then carried in two of Japan’s three sacred treasures — a sword representing valor and a jewel representing benevolence..."

"... as well as the Privy Seal and the Great Seal of Japan, the seals of the emperor and state, respectively. Enclosed in cases and only ever seen by the emperor and high priests, the sacred treasures were held up to the emperor before being carefully placed on stands made of Japanese cypress. A third treasure, a mirror — representing wisdom — is kept at Ise Grand Shrine, the holiest Shinto site in Japan.... Akihito is a much-loved figure in Japan. With his wife at his side, he humanized the role of the emperor, once viewed here as a living god, by reaching out to vulnerable members of society and victims of natural disasters, and by actually looking ordinary people in the eye when talking to them." From "Japan’s popular emperor abdicates in short ceremony at Imperial Palace" (WaPo).

42 comments:

rhhardin said...: They spent a long time figuring out what the ceremony ought be. You need symbols, and it has to come of as serious rather than comical.; 4/30/19, 8:14 AM
rhhardin said...: It's year 1 in Japan again.; 4/30/19, 8:14 AM
rhhardin said...: Hello kitty was rejected.; 4/30/19, 8:15 AM
rhhardin said...: Pixelating everybody's crotch would have been a nice touch.; 4/30/19, 8:16 AM
Lucid-Ideas said...: The 'sword' in particular is interesting. Many believe it and the legendary Grass-Cutting Sword (Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi) are actually the same, dating it to something like 3000+ years old. There's a picture of it floating around on the net somewhere too, surreptitiously shot from a distance during a temple ceremony in the 80s. Numerous requests have been made to date it - albeit within the confines of not actually seeing it - and have been turned down. The interest stems from murkiness regarding Japan's pre-history 'Jomon' period, specifically the actual period at which their civilization started.

If the 'regalia' sword and the 'grass-cutting sword' turned out to be one in the same, definitely super-cool.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusanagi; 4/30/19, 8:19 AM
MadisonMan said...: Fatally for the office, he and his wife did not produce enough sons.; 4/30/19, 8:22 AM
Wince said...: Members of my family were frequently called upon to abdicate the throne.

I grew up in a house with one bathroom.; 4/30/19, 8:22 AM
Seeing Red said...: Akihito is a much-loved figure in Japan. With his wife at his side, he humanized the role of the emperor, once viewed here as a living god,

I once read an argument how people can’t change and someone used WWII as the proof they can.

They went to bed thinking their emperor was a god and woke up to he was a man.

War will do that to you.; 4/30/19, 8:26 AM
Fernandinande said...: the Great Seal of Japan is actually a sea lion.; 4/30/19, 8:30 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Good God! I remember when he was a young-ish fellah. Shocking what the weight of office will do to you.; 4/30/19, 8:33 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Maybe the photos were old. We’ve never actually met...; 4/30/19, 8:34 AM
tcrosse said...: A more humane mikado never did in Japan exist.; 4/30/19, 8:47 AM
rcocean said...: That was pretty cool. You have to wonder why Queen Liz hasn't retired. BTW, NPR's big take on this? It seems one ceremony for crowning a new Emperor excludes women. Needless, to say, all the NPR announcers were all upset. Everything else was secondary.; 4/30/19, 8:48 AM
rcocean said...: How dare the Japanese Emperor exclude Girls from his tree-house.; 4/30/19, 8:49 AM
rcocean said...: The Zero was named after "Year Zero" of the Emperor's reign. Not being a math major, that always confused me. Shouldn't it all start at One?; 4/30/19, 8:51 AM
Craig Howard said...: You have to wonder why Queen Liz hasn't retired.

Probably because she's worried Charles would put a windmill on top of Buckingham Palace.; 4/30/19, 8:59 AM
Danny Lemieux said...: A mirror,as the symbol of wisdom. Not a selfie stick, a mirror.; 4/30/19, 9:01 AM
Chris said...: tcrosse - To nobody second I'm certainly reckoned A true philanthropist.; 4/30/19, 9:02 AM
RBE said...: Interesting to me that they are wearing western formal suits for this ceremony. Women in the audience were wearing kimonos.; 4/30/19, 9:06 AM
Karen of Texas said...: "The Zero was named after "Year Zero" of the Emperor's reign. Not being a math major, that always confused me. Shouldn't it all start at One?"

Not being a math major either, I'm going to go with, when a baby is born, he isn't 1 year old until his first birthday, sooo, technically he is in year 0 until that day birth day rolls around. Maybe?

And I liked this. History, mystery, ethos - what's not to like and be intrigued by? Cool about the sword, Lucid.; 4/30/19, 9:06 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: rcocean said...
Shouldn't it all start at One?

The world is run by computer programs, and real programmers start counting at 0.; 4/30/19, 9:17 AM
Ken B said...: Rcocean
Wash your mouth out with soap! Twice! After Elizabeth comes Charles, The Great Pillock. Not only must she not abdicate, but when she dies we should stuff and mount her in an animatronic frame and pretend she's just feeling poorly, until Charles shuffles off this mortal coil.; 4/30/19, 9:36 AM
Fernandinande said...: A mirror,as the symbol of wisdom

You can signal for help* with a mirror. It's a form of Wilderness Niksen because nobody responds.

* "I've fallen and I can't reach my beer!"; 4/30/19, 9:39 AM
Phil 314 said...: As an American I may be fascinated with royalty (I’m a big fan of “The Crown”). but I cannot understand it.

“Who needs a king?”; 4/30/19, 9:41 AM
robother said...: A high tolerance for boredom is required for formal dignity.; 4/30/19, 9:45 AM
gspencer said...: Do the Japanese have as one of their sacred objects The Nose of the long-lost Emperor #1, like say The Nose a la Sleeper (1973).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDfF2r_Jc8g; 4/30/19, 9:46 AM
gspencer said...: "You have to wonder why Queen Liz hasn't retired."

She realizes that if she retired/abdicated then her Doofus son would become king, something that she certainly considers as simply unbearable to have to witness.; 4/30/19, 9:51 AM
MadisonMan said...: You have to wonder why Queen Liz hasn't retired

Her strong sense of duty prevents her from doing so would be my guess.; 4/30/19, 9:56 AM
mockturtle said...: The brevity and simplicity of the ceremony is in dramatic contrast to something similar in Europe.; 4/30/19, 9:58 AM
mockturtle said...: You have to wonder why Queen Liz hasn't retired.

Probably because she's worried Charles would put a windmill on top of Buckingham Palace.

Bingo! ;-D; 4/30/19, 10:02 AM
DougWeber said...: Always interesting to observe foreign attempts to understand a culture. For the west, abdication is a large event. But historically in Japan, the Emperor would abdicate young and "go to a monastery". Actually, the constraints on the Mikado were so tight that he could actually not participate in politics and was mostly a figure head. But when he abdicated, those restrictions disappeared and the abdicated Mikado became a major political force. It was an interesting dynamic.; 4/30/19, 10:10 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: They should have gone to Hawaii and had the ceremony on the deck of the USS Missouri.; 4/30/19, 10:11 AM
JPS said...: Strawberry Phil:

"As an American I may be fascinated with royalty"

See, I wouldn't even go that far. Just don't have much use for the concept. But there are royal figures who seem to have understood that it wasn't really about them, tried to do their duty, and left their country better than it would have been without them.

Queen Elizabeth II tops my list. I learned about the late King Michael of Romania only after he died, but he was a mensch. My wife warns me not to admire Juan Carlos too much, but he did guide Spain through a peaceful transition from fascism to democracy. I could believe Akihito is a good man.; 4/30/19, 10:15 AM
Gabriel said...: @Karen in Texas:Not being a math major either, I'm going to go with, when a baby is born, he isn't 1 year old until his first birthday, sooo, technically he is in year 0 until that day birth day rolls around. Maybe?

This isn't a math issue, it's an English issue.

The baby that is not yet 1 year old, is in his first year of life. The baby's first 12 months of life are his first year. When he turns 1, he has completed his first year of life and is beginning his second year of life, which he will complete on his second birthday. We SAY a baby is "a year old" but what we MEAN is that the baby is "at least one year old but not two".

In China and Chinese-influences Asian countries they count the years instead of measuring them, so they do say a just born baby's age is 1 year. Every New Year the age goes up by 1 no matter when the baby was born, so a baby born the day before the New Year is age 1 and the next day is age 2.; 4/30/19, 10:42 AM
mockturtle said...: DougWeber observes: Actually, the constraints on the Mikado were so tight that he could actually not participate in politics and was mostly a figure head.

Yes. The emperor was often a young boy whose regent held what little political power rested with the title.; 4/30/19, 10:44 AM
rhhardin said...: Japan also counts pregnancy from your last period, so it's ten months instead of nine.; 4/30/19, 10:44 AM
Gabriel said...: @rhhardin:Japan also counts pregnancy from your last period, so it's ten months instead of nine.

Pregnancy lasts for ten months as often as not. The tenth month is called "term". 37 weeks to 42 weeks is typical with 40 weeks as the average.

Gestational age is defined in Western medicine exactly as in Japan, from last period.; 4/30/19, 10:52 AM
Balfegor said...: Interesting to me that they are wearing western formal suits for this ceremony. Women in the audience were wearing kimonos.

It is likely that the new Emperor will don Heian-era robes for at least one of the ceremonies -- I've seen photos of the Retired Emperor in Heian dress from when he acceded in 1989. But in general, formal court dress since Meiji has been morning coats and striped trousers. There was (ahem) a period when there were a lot of military uniforms. If you look at photos of the Tojo cabinet, for example, the officers are in military dress, although civilians members, like the Prime Minister's grandfather, are in morning dress or frock coats. But since the end of the war, it's mostly back to morning coats for court ceremonies. You see that percolate down in more relaxed form down to ordinary "reifuku" or ceremonial clothing for weddings and funerals and the like, which is mostly black Western-style lounge suits, sometimes dinner jackets. I think it's comparatively rare these days for men to wear kimono and hakama for ceremonies, although it's certainly not unheard of, particularly for weddings.

The switch to Western dress, cutting the topknots, etc. didn't really apply to women with the same uniformity, so women still wear kimono to formal events. That said, the Retired Empress is wearing a Western-style gown at the abdication ceremony.

Anyhow, Day 1 of the new Reiwa era began 53 minutes ago. 天皇陛下万歳！; 4/30/19, 10:53 AM
gspencer said...: They'd probably be able to relate the ceremony to contemporary thinking if they used some Soul Train Line Dancin',; 4/30/19, 10:55 AM
Rick.T. said...: I was expecting seppuku to be involved somehow.; 4/30/19, 11:45 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Did WaPo find a way to work Trump into this story?; 4/30/19, 11:48 AM
Crimso said...: He was no slouch outside of emperoring; 4/30/19, 2:29 PM