Oct 23, 2019 (Japan Times) - Japan’s enthronement combines legend and the spiritual with modernity, similar to coronations used by monarchies worldwide. These ceremonies tend to be described as “traditional†— but the term is overused and rarely properly defined in reference to Japan’s enthronement, Sokui no Rei.
The imperial house, however, has long survived not because of its stubborn attachment to traditions but quite the opposite — because it has changed to suit evolving social conditions throughout its history.
The present enthronement ceremony does, in an expansive sense, date back more than a millennium. But it was thoroughly overhauled during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) at a time when the emperor was made into the apex of the newly formed nation-state, a position he does not hold under the postwar system.
Although observers of the ceremonies will see various demonstrations of respect toward the newly enthroned emperor, they will be directed by the sovereign people (as well as by foreign guests) toward the national symbol of Japan rather than toward the sacrosanct and sovereign emperor of the imperial era (1868-1945).
For the first postwar enthronement in 1990, practices were somewhat revised to suit the new constitutional order, although not as much as one might expect. The 2019 version will almost entirely follow the 1990 precedent.
Rather than using the simplistic term “traditional†to describe this ceremony, it is more accurate to view it as an amalgam of the premodern, of the Meiji Era of modernization, and of the postwar, with the Meiji component (in terms of how the nitty-gritty rituals are carried out if not their meaning in society) representing the most significant part of the equation.
