The Japanese Emperor Naruhito was officially inaugurated today in front of about 2,000 guests, including personalities from some 190 countries and international organizations, at an official ceremony at the Imperial Palace.
"I pledge to work in accordance with the Constitution and assume my responsibility as a symbol of the state and the unity of the people of Japan," the 59-year-old emperor said from within the 6.5-meter-high imperial throne of Takamikura. The emperor, who wore the Kurose no Goho dress, a dark orange robe with a ninth century design worn by emperors on special occasions, said he always wished "happiness for the people and peace for the world, caring for people and standing by them."
Empress Masako was wearing a layered kimono sitting on the throne of Michaudai next to the emperor's throne.
At the ceremony known as "Sokuirei Seiden no gi" in the official Seiden Hall, held half a year after the Emperor's ascension to the throne, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe conveyed congratulations from the official Matsue No Ma Hall. "We will do our utmost to create a peaceful, bright and hopeful future in Japan," Abe said, an era when people meet to develop the country's culture.
Then the prime minister shouted in a formal coat with guests three Panzai chants wishing the longevity of the emperor (and Banzai literally means a thousand years).
Heavy rains since the morning prompted the Imperial Court to reduce the number of officials in traditional Japanese uniforms from around 70 and move them into the corridor from the courtyard, where they were originally scheduled to line up with swords and bows.
At the ceremony, two imperial emblems, the Imperial Sword and the Jewel, which the Emperor inherited in May were presented as evidence of his ascension to the throne, with official and personal seals.
Earlier in the day, the emperor and empress, wearing a white robe and a white layered kimono, respectively, visited three religious halls inside the palace campus in central Tokyo.
Security has been stepped up, with up to 26,000 police from all over Japan deployed to protect the ceremony.
The Emperor took the throne of Chrysanthemum on May 1, a day after his 85-year-old father, former Emperor Akihito, stepped down as the first Japanese emperor to do so in nearly 200 years. Former Emperor Akihito and former Empress Michiko, as well as Princess Yuriko, 96, the widow of the late Prince Mikasa, did not attend the official ceremony.
The rituals followed the inauguration of the former Emperor Akihito in 1990, as well as that of Emperor Hirohito, known posthumously as Emperor Showa, organized in Kyoto in 1928.
The rituals of succession in the world's oldest hereditary kingdom extend over a thousand years.
Japan made the day a national holiday to celebrate with the imperial couple, who were due to start a parade in an open car in the capital after the ceremony, but the event was postponed to November 10 for victims of a typhoon earlier this month.
In the morning, people gathered along the streets in the rain to look at the imperial couple as they headed separately to the imperial palace waving their cars along the way.