Goshichinichi no mishuho

• Japanese: 後七日御修法 (go shichi nichi no mishuhou)

The Goshichinichi no mishuhô, or Second Week Imperial Ritual,” was a Shingon Buddhist imperial ritual aimed at empowering the emperor and by extension the state.

It was performed regularly from 835 until the 1300s, was revived under the Tokugawa shogunate in 1625, abolished by the Meiji government in the 1870s, was then revived in 1883 and was performed regularly until 1945, before being abolished again, and then revived yet again in 1968, being performed regularly from 1968 until today.

References

• Evelyn Rawski, Early Modern China and Northeast Asia: Cross-Border Perspectives, Cambridge University Press (2015), 119n52, citing Fabio Rambelli, “The Emperor’s New Robes: Processes of Resignification in Shingon Imperial Rituals,” Cahiers d’Extreme-Asie 13 (2002-2003): 427-453.