WORLD : Akihito Enthronement Date Set
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TOKYO — Japan’s Emperor Akihito will be formally enthroned next November in an age-old ceremony in which he will offer rice wine to the gods and his ancestors, the government said today.
Preliminary ceremonies of accession were held for Akihito on Jan. 7 when his father, Hirohito, died at the age of 87. But according to ancient tradition he remains only a “half-emperor” until he goes through the formal rites.
Two ceremonies will be held.
The first will be the equivalent of a Western coronation while in the second, a Shinto religious ceremony called the “great food offering ritual,” the emperor offers the year’s first rice crop and rice wine to the gods and his ancestors.
More than 2,000 foreign dignitaries, including members of royal families and heads of state, are expected to be invited.
Akihito will be the first emperor to be formally enthroned in Tokyo. A government panel suggested that location for all future enthronements of emperors instead of the traditional spot in the ancient capital, Kyoto.
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