The Enthronement Rites

T NHE autumn Festival of First-Fruits (niiname no matsuri or shinjo-sai pi 6) was a royal and a public celebration of the rice harvest. From the accession of Emperor Temmu iTin 672, the annual rite was designated the Great New Food Festival of the Enthronement (onie [or oname] no matsuri 1VW or senso daijosai AfmtjAJR) when held for the first time after the accession of a new sovereign. In all other years the event has been observed as a thanksgiving ceremony for the harvest. The daijosai consists of a sacred communion, a together-tasting, of the year's rice and sake on the part of the new emperor and the ancestral deities and divine spirits. In the time of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jito 4 the requirements for this celebration were written into law and have been handed down in the Taiho 1,' and Yoro 1 legal codes dating from the early eighth century. In the Jingi-ryo jip section of the Yoro codes the calendar of national festivals in honor of the divine spirits is prescribed. According to Article 10, upon the succession of the sovereign the Gods of Heaven and Spirits of Earth were all to be worshipped; general ritual abstinence for one month and total abstinence for three days were to be observed. Ceremonial offerings at all official shrines were to be prepared during the three months prior to the festival. On the day preceding the Great Festival of the Enthronement another celebration was held, namely, the Pacification of the August Imperial Spirits (mitama-shizume no matsuri or chinkon-sai A4ffi), in which the spirits of the new emperor and empress were, according to ancient belief, summoned from wandering and brought to harmonious rest. This ceremony was held on the middle Day of the Tiger in the Eleventh Month, the day before the middle Day of the Hare on which the daijosai took place. The emperor, empress, and heir apparent took part in this calming and integrating of the august spirits. After the promulgation of the legal codes it became necessary for officialdom to commit to writing the detailed procedures, or shiki A, for carrying out the provisions of the law. This resulted in successive compilations of

Chinese history and philosophy · History · Japanese History and Culture · Philosophy