Today, it's a holiday! All about the Japanese holiday called Emperor's Birthday.
"Flag for the Emperor's Birthday" by Toyohara Kunichika
Emperor's Birthday
February 23rd is a national holiday in Japan: it's the Emperor's Birthday! Called Tennō Tanjōbi (天皇誕生日) in Japanese, on this day in 1960 the current emperor, Emperor Naruhito, was born.
On this day, the public is allowed into the inner grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to celebrate. This is one of only two times of the year (the other is for New Years) when the gates to the Imperial Palace are open. The Emperor, Empress, and various family members will come out to the balcony and acknowledge the birthday greeting.
This was actually taken for his enthronement, but it looks basically the same when they come out for his birthday.
This event is called ippan-sanga (一般参賀) and it is free, but lines are very long so you will have to wait a while if you attend. Only a limited number of people are let in at once. They will be given three minutes to see the emperor and chant "banzai" (one thousand years [for the Emperor]), then they will be shuffled off and the next group let in. This will be repeated several times until everyone has had their chance to see the Emperor and give him good wishes.
They give you small flags to wave at the event
A Moving Holiday
As you might guess from the name, this holiday moves to whatever day is the birthday of the current reigning emperor.
When the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito, was alive this holiday was on April 29th. When he died they moved the day to the birthday of his son, Emperor Akihito, on December 23rd. They kept Hirohito's birthday as a holiday, renaming it first Greenery Day (みどりの日) in 1989 and later Shōwa Day (昭和の日) in 2007.
When Emperor Naruhito ascended the throne, the date of the holiday changed to his birthday on February 23. So far we no longer celebrate Emperor Akihito's birthday, but I imagine that may change in the future (perhaps after he dies).
As to the other modern emperors, Emperors Meiji and Taisho, there are no holidays to directly celebrate their birthdays anymore, but Culture Day is on Emperor Meiji's birthday, November 3rd.
History
Prior to 1948, the day was called Tenchōsetsu (天長節), or Tenchō Festival, and it was considered one of the four most important holidays of the year.
The name comes from a Chinese idiom that is from the Tao te Ching: 天長地久. This means "The sky and the earth, the universe is eternal," and expressed a hope for the eternal longevity of the reigning Emperor.
After the second world war, the day was renamed Tennō tanjōbi (天皇誕生日) because this is less formal language, more direct, and didn't carry the suggestion of emperor worship, which was something to be avoided after the war.
A Day to Remember
Besides the major celebration listed above, there isn't much going on. There might be some scattered festivals at local shrines, and some of the right-wing extremists groups in the country will use this as an opportunity to make some noise, but in general there isn't much going on.
It is a public holiday, so people otherwise enjoy it as a day off work to do their own thing. And any holiday is a good holiday, eh?
Misc
- Photo 1, Addressing the Crowd, taken from Wikipedia, released under a Creative Commons license.
- Photo 2, Paper Flags, taken from Wikipedia, released under a Creative Commons license.
- Ukiyo-e print, Flag for the Emperor's Birthday, by Toyohara Kunichika, published in 1877 so in the public domain.
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. |
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