Daijosai

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  • Japanese: 大嘗祭 (daijousai)

The daijôsai is a secret ritual performed by the Emperor immediately following his accession to the throne. Little is known about the details of the rite, but it involves the one performing ritual making his first offering of rice as Emperor, consuming rice, and becoming imbued with the spiritual power of his forebears.

It was replaced for many centuries by a Buddhist sokui kanjo (即位灌頂) rite, beginning in the Northern & Southern Courts period; this Buddhist rite continued to be performed as part of imperial accession ceremonies until 1847, but the Daijôsai was revived, or recreated, by the Meiji government and was then performed into the 20th century.[1]

References

  • Amino Yoshihiko, Alan Christy (trans.), Rethinking Japanese History, Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan (2012), 253n12.
  1. Evelyn Rawski, Early Modern China and Northeast Asia: Cross-Border Perspectives, Cambridge University Press (2015), 120.