MIKADO FEASTS WITH HIS GODS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6804, 7 January 1929, Page 8

MIKADO FEASTS WITH HIS GODS

OLDEST KITE OF JAPAN, Vigil was kept in many a Lome throughout tko Empire of Japan on November 14 an'd in all the shrines of the Shinto faith, for between dusk and dawn his Imperial Majesty met the gods, to talk to them, to offer them this year’s fruit of the soil, and to partake of a simple meal with them. At 4.25 p.m. the doors of the KaTamon, the most sacred gate in Japan, swung open and the Emperor passed through on his way to the two primi.five buildings, the Yukiden and Sukiden, where he communed with the gods. The Emperor wore military uniform, but after the ancient ceremony of purification, wore robes of pure white silk. Officials permitted a small group of newspaper representatives to. witness the Emperor’s departure and hear the ancient music outside the Yukiden.

The origin of the Daijo Sai, the Great New food festival, goes back to the flays before the written word. The exact significance of the, rite and of the few utensils used in it are no lpnger known, but there is little doubt flat it is coeval with the founding of the Empire. Nowhere elso in the world to-day is as archaic a state ceremony to be found. /To sacred music, his Majesty enters the outer chamber of the Yukiden and ritualists bear in the offerings of food, consisting of steamed rice, steamed millet, fresh and dried fish, fruit, seaweed broth and Awabi broth. His Majesty enters the inner chamber alone and offers a prayer to the unseen occupant of the ancient throne, known as the God Seat. His own food and wine is then brought in, and he partakes thrice of the rice, tho and two kinds of cake.