Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 9, 1993 TAG: 9306090235
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: TOKYO LENGTH: Medium
The wedding, which began Tuesday evening in Eastern Daylight Time, marks the fourth time in this century that a future emperor and empress have stepped into the simple wooden shrine behind the palace's high stone walls to sip sake in a national yet quite private gesture of union.
But for Japan the ritual also marks a striking departure from the past, for the first time bringing into the fold of the royal family a princess who had a thriving career of her own. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, the new Crown Princess Masako has also come to personify a new generation of Japanese women engaged in the workings of the world's second-largest industrial economy.
Crown Prince Naruhito, 33, who was also educated at Oxford, joined Owada, 29, before millions of television viewers like reincarnations of a noble couple from Japan's feudal past.
Five months after she left a high-powered job at the North America section of the Foreign Ministry, where she handled some of Japan's most contentious trade problems with the United States, Owada appeared in a 12-layer, 30-pound silk kimono in the style of the eighth-century Heian period.
For hours before the ceremony, her body was purified in an ancient ritual, then court ladies dressed her in the formal bridal array, or juni-hitoe - literally "12-layered garment" - arranged so the sleeves of each show beneath those above. The kimono reportedly cost more than $300,000.
Her hair was coiffed in classic style, with long, artificial strands added down her back.
Then she and Prince Naruhito, dressed in a brilliant kimono representing a rising sun, headed to the shrine, the Kashikodokoro, which is believed to contain the spirit of Amaterasu the Sun Goddess, who, according to legend, created the Japanese isles.
There, in an inner sanctuary, the marriage ceremony began. There were only three attendants: the palace's chief ritualist, Hidetada Koide; a chamberlain bearing the centuries-old sword representing the crown prince, and a court lady.
At the shrine, one of the most sacred in the deliberately unkempt forest behind the palace, 900 Japanese dignitaries gathered to catch a glimpse of the couple as they disappeared into the sanctuary, the Shrine of Graciousness. The guests included Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and other officials and industrialists, but no foreigners.
By custom, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko were not present.
The day is a national holiday, and with factories and offices closed, millions tuned in to the ceremonies, some hovering around high-definition television sets set up outside train stations.
For all the celebrations, though, many Japanese have expressed mixed emotions about Owada.
For months, Japanese have debated how the young woman, who staved off the prince's wedding proposals while she pursued her career, will settle into a palace that is still ruled by tradition and rigid hierarchy, a place where royalty are revered symbols of the state but politically powerless.
Many have said that her cosmopolitan image and familiarity with the United States and Europe will further soften the image of a monarchy struggling with the shadows of World War II, when millions died in the name of Emperor Hirohito, who was Naruhito's grandfather.
by CNB