What inspired Murayama, who owned a "hostess" club in Ginza, to leave Tokyo's nightlife and enter the world of Shinto to serve the gods and her...
The secret Daijosai ritual remains a mystery, but a new theory has been proposed that links Japan’s oldest traditions to a long cultural corridor through Eurasia.
It’s been quite the unusual year, especially for the newly-enthroned Emperor of Japan, who ascended the Chrysanthemum throne on May 1, 2019, starting the new...
As 2019 comes to a close, we at JAPAN Forward are reflecting on the stories that moved Japan this year, and the stories...
Questions have been raised as to whether Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony violated the separation of political and religious institutions established by the Constitution. Criticism...
Emperor Naruhito carried out the most traditional and important of the rituals to becoming emperor of Japan, the Daijosai, starting from the evening of...
The enthronement ceremony, or Sokuirei-Seiden-no-Gi, for Japan’s Emperor Naruhito took place in Tokyo on October 22, leading up the climax of the rites of ascension to...
In early November, one of the most important ceremonies of the new era is set to take place. The Emperor Naruhito will visit Ise...
A recent booklet titled MIYOGAWARI takes on the range of rituals marking the changing of Japan’s era from Heisei to Reiwa. It aims to explain...
Naruhito Reports to the Imperial Ancestors as the New Emperor On Tuesday May 8, the series of spring rituals that began April 30 marking...
Emperor Akihito and his wife Michiko on April 18 visited the most important shrine in Japan, Ise Jingu, to pay their respects. Under different...
What significance does the tenno or “emperor” have for Japan and the Japanese people? There is no easy answer to that question. Suffice it to...
