JAPAN: Emperor Enthroned

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Coupled on ahead of even the Tenno's private car was that which bore the Sacred Mirror of the Sun Goddess, a divine, holy and potent relic comparable to a Crown. In one legendary instance the Mirror was nefariously buried and concealed; but the Sun Goddess at once caused it to project upwards from the ground a radiance so transcendant that impious beholders were blinded and driven mad. Since then prudent Japanese have taken no liberties with the Divine Mirror, originally inherited by the first Tenno Jimmu from his great-great-grandmother, Sun Goddess Omaterosu O-Mikami, who established him as the Emperor of Japan, over which his descendants have reigned ever since (2,588 years).

On the day of Enthronement in Kioto two distinct ceremonials were observed.

The first, lasting from eight to eleven in the morning, informed the Imperial Ancestors that their descendant had now assumed his full Imperial Station. The second ceremony — of chief interest to Occidentals on account of the chair — culminated at 3 p. m. and was, in essence, simply a proclamation by the Son of Heaven to his People that he is now Tenno. This was the "Coronation" proper.

Awed spectators who peered about to glimpse the "Throne" were startled by the simple, even frail construction of the chair. Simple, but not without dignity, for it rested on the topmost of three octagonal pedestals, surrounded by an octagonal pavilion with draw curtains, this surmounted by a great golden Phoenix with wings spread. Pavilion and chair rested on a great square pedestal, the whole being called the Takamikura. Enclosing the Takamikura with the spaciousness of an airplane hangar rose the mighty Shishinden or Temple of Enthronement. Beneath the eaves of its high thatched roof, the Shishinden was open along its entire Southern side, facing a vast court yard, with the Sun Gate to the left (East) and the Moon Gate to the right (West). Within the hangar, Shishinden, near but slightly to the left and behind the Takamikura, stood a similar "Throne," the Michodai, "smaller by a tenth" — for the Empress. Pedastals and chairs were lacquered jet black.

Loud cries warned that the Son of Heaven was entering the Shishinden from the North. To the South, all 'round the courtyard, spectators stiffened to immobility. Slowly the slender, spectacled Tenno paced up the steps of the Takamikura and sat down in his black lacquer chair. Pompously the Lord Chamberlain placed upon stands adjoining the Throne, the sacred Sword and Jewel, emblems and relics of the Sun Goddess, which, together with the Divine Mirror, attest the utter sanctity of the enthronement. Then a plain wooden baton was presented to the Tenno — "The Scepter!"

Entered and sat the Empress.* The "People of Japan," personified by the solitary figure of Prime Minister Baron Giichi Tanaka, paced to the middle of the court yard, bowed low to the Son of Heaven, and awaited the Divine Word.