Crown Prince, princess visit Emperor Showa’s grave

Jiji Press

17:02 JST, April 26, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Crown Prince Akishino and his wife, Crown Princess Kiko, visited the mausoleum of Emperor Showa in Tokyo on Tuesday to report the completion of ceremonies that proclaimed he Crown Prince’s rise to first in line to the throne.

The couple’s visit to the mausoleum, located in the Musashi Imperial Mausolea Grounds in the city of Hachioji, was the last of a series of events related to the “Rikkoshi-no-Rei” ceremonies, which were held in November 2020.

The Crown Prince rose to first in line to the Imperial throne after the enthronement of his older brother, the Emperor, in May 2019.

The couple walked toward Emperor Showa’s mausoleum, offered “tamagushi” sacred tree branches and bowed.

After that, they visited the mausoleum of Emperor Taisho and that of his wife, Empress Teimei, as well as the mausoleum of Empress Kojun, Emperor Showa’s wife.

Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko traveled to the western Japan prefectures of Mie, Nara and Kyoto between Wednesday and Saturday.

During the tour, they visited Ise Jingu, a major Shinto shrine complex in Mie, the mausoleum of Emperor Jinmu in Nara and elsewhere to report the completion of the Rikkoshi-no-Rei ceremonies.

The couple’s visits to these places were initially scheduled to take place soon after the Rikkoshi-no-Rei ceremonies as related rituals. But they were postponed due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.