The Chrysanthemum Throne ( 皇位 , kōi , "imperial seat") is the throne of the Emperor of Japan . The term also can refer to very specific seating, such as the Takamikura ( 高御座 ) throne in the Shishin-den at Kyoto Imperial Palace .
44-697: Various other thrones or seats that are used by the Emperor during official functions, such as those used in the Tokyo Imperial Palace or the throne used in the Speech from the Throne ceremony in the National Diet , are, however, not known as the " Chrysanthemum Throne". In a metonymic sense, the "Chrysanthemum Throne" also refers rhetorically to the head of state and the institution of
88-572: A dormitory for imperial princesses, however this building was removed prior to the construction of the present gardens. Other buildings such as stables and housing were removed to create the East Garden in its present configuration. Construction work began in 1961 with a new pond in the Ninomaru, as well as the repair and restoration of various keeps and structures from the Edo period. On 30 May 1963,
132-521: A list of labels for these poetic devices. These include For a longer list, see Figure of speech: Tropes . Kenneth Burke has called metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony the "four master tropes" owing to their frequency in everyday discourse. These tropes can be used to represent common recurring themes throughout creative works, and in a modern setting relationships and character interactions. It can also be used to denote examples of common repeating figures of speech and situations. Whilst most of
176-512: A plastic pole as weapons when faced by staff and local police officers. A similar incident took place in 2013, in which two drunken tourists decided to try to sneak into the palace building after removing their clothing and entering the water near Sakurada Gate . The Imperial Palace ( 宮殿 , Kyūden ) and the headquarters of the Imperial Household Agency are located in the former Nishinomaru enceinte ( West Citadel ) of
220-554: A short speech greeting and thanking the visitors and wishing them good health and blessings. Parts of the Fukiage garden are sometimes open to the general public. The old Honmaru , Ninomaru , and Sannomaru compounds now comprise the East Gardens, an area with public access containing administrative and other public buildings. The Kitanomaru Park is located to the north and is the former northern enceinte of Edo Castle. It
264-648: A total area of 1,254 m (13,500 sq ft). The hall is octagon-shaped and each of its eight outer walls is decorated with differently designed mosaic tiles. Construction began in August 1964 and was completed in February 1966. Symbolic trees representing each prefecture in Japan are planted in the northwestern corner of Ninomaru enceinte. Such trees have been donated from each prefecture and there are total of 260, covering 30 varieties. The small Ninomaru Garden at
308-628: A trope is the Quem quaeritis? , an amplification before the Introit of the Easter Sunday service and the source for liturgical drama . This particular practice came to an end with the Tridentine Mass , the unification of the liturgy in 1570 promulgated by Pope Pius V . Rhetoricians have analyzed a variety of "twists and turns" used in poetry and literature and have provided
352-489: Is a public park and is the site of the Nippon Budokan . To the south is Kokyo Gaien National Garden . Though much of the site is off limits to the public, there have been multiple instances of tourists attempting to trespass on the palace grounds by swimming in the moat. In 2008, a British tourist stripped naked, repeatedly dove into and swam across the moat in an attempt to avoid being arrested, and used stones and
396-795: Is used mainly for the enthronement ceremony , along with the twin throne michodai ( 御帳台 , august seat of the Empress ) . For the Enthronement of Emperors Akihito and Naruhito , both the Takamikura and Michodai thrones were taken apart, refurbished and reassembled at the Seiden State Hall of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo where the ceremonies are now held. The emperor's throne is a western-style Meiji period chair used in
440-678: The Akasaka Palace after the Meiji restoration, but was reconstructed in its original location in 1912. It was moved to its present location during the construction of the East Garden. The Kitanomaru Park is located to the north and is the former northern enceinte of Edo Castle. It is a public park and is the site of Nippon Budokan Hall . This garden contains a bronze monument to Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa ( 北白川宮能久親王 , Kitashirakawa-no-miya Yoshihisa-shinnō ) . The Kokyo Gaien National Garden consists of outer gardens that ring
484-645: The Chiyoda district of the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains several buildings including the Fukiage Palace ( 吹上御所 , Fukiage gosho ) where the Emperor has his living quarters, the main palace ( 宮殿 , Kyūden ) where various ceremonies and receptions take place, some residences of the Imperial Family , an archive, museums and administrative offices. The 1.15-square-kilometer (0.44 sq mi) palace grounds and gardens are built on
SECTION 10
#1732758357397528-470: The Fukiage Palace ( 吹上御所 , Fukiage gosho ) , the official residence of the Emperor and empress, is located in the Fukiage Garden. Designed by Japanese architect Shōzō Uchii the modern residence was completed in 1993. The residence is currently in use by Emperor Naruhito. Except for the Imperial Household Agency and the East Gardens, the main grounds of the palace are generally closed to
572-483: The House of Peers from 1868 until 1912. The emperor still uses the throne during ceremonies of the National Diet and for non-political statements. For example, he uses the throne during the Speech from the Throne ceremony in the House of Councillors . The ceremony opens ordinary Diet sessions (each January and after elections) and extra sessions (usually in autumn). The throne features real gold with details such as
616-580: The Imperial Regalia of Japan are kept here and the sanctuary plays a religious role in imperial enthronements and weddings. The East Gardens is where most of the administrative buildings for the palace are located and encompasses the former Honmaru and Ninomaru areas of Edo Castle, a total of 210,000 m (2,300,000 sq ft). Located on the grounds of the East Gardens is the Imperial Tokagakudo Music Hall,
660-641: The Japanese monarchy itself. Japan is the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy in the world. In much the same sense as the British Crown , the Chrysanthemum Throne is an abstract metonymic concept that represents the monarch and the legal authority for the existence of the government. Unlike its British counterpart, the concepts of Japanese monarchy evolved differently before 1947 when there was, for example, no perceived separation of
704-521: The surrender of Japan at an underground air-raid shelter on the palace grounds referred to as His Majesty's Library ( 御文庫附属室 , Obunko Fuzokushitsu ) . Due to the large-scale destruction of the Meiji-era palace, a new main palace hall ( 宮殿 , Kyūden ) and residences were constructed on the western portion of the site in 1964–1968, designed by architect Junzō Yoshimura . The area was renamed Imperial Residence ( 皇居 , Kōkyo ) in 1948, while
748-480: The 16 petal chrysanthemum seal , two lion heads, two phoenixes and the sun disc . This flexible English term is also a rhetorical trope . Depending on context, the Chrysanthemum Throne can be construed as a metonymy , which is a rhetorical device for an allusion relying on proximity or correspondence, as for example referring to actions of the Emperor as "actions of the Chrysanthemum Throne." e.g., During
792-600: The 2007 state visit by the Emperor and Empress of Japan to the United Kingdom, the Times reported that "last night’s dinner was as informal as it could get when the House of Windsor entertains the Chrysanthemum Throne." Tokyo Imperial Palace The Tokyo Imperial Palace ( 皇居 , Kōkyo , literally 'Imperial Residence') is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan . It is a large park -like area located in
836-691: The Edo Castle. The main buildings of the palace grounds, including the Kyūden ( 宮殿 ) main palace, home of the liaison conference of the Imperial General Headquarters , were severely damaged by the fire of May 1945. Today's palace consists of multiple modern structures that are interconnected. The palace complex was finished in 1968 and was constructed of steel-framed reinforced concrete structures produced domestically, with two stories above ground and one story below. The buildings of
880-666: The Imperial Palace were constructed by the Takenaka Corporation in a modernist style with clear Japanese architectural references such as the large, gabled hipped roof, columns and beams. The complex consists of six wings, including: Halls include the Minami-Damari , Nami-no-Ma , multiple corridors, Kita-Damari , Shakkyō-no-Ma , Shunju-no-Ma , Seiden-Sugitoe (Kaede) , Seiden-Sugitoe (Sakura) , Take-no-Ma , Ume-no-Ma and Matsu-no-Ma . Famous Nihonga artists such as Maeda Seison were commissioned to paint
924-426: The Imperial Palace. It contain bronze monuments to Kusunoki Masashige ( 楠木正成 ) and to Wake no Kiyomaro ( 和気清麻呂 ) . Trope (linguistics) A literary trope is an artistic effect realized with figurative language — word, phrase, image — such as a rhetorical figure . In editorial practice, a trope is "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase". Semantic change has expanded
SECTION 20
#1732758357397968-428: The Meiji era were constructed of wood. Their design employed traditional Japanese architecture in their exterior appearance while the interiors were an eclectic mixture of fashionable Japanese and European elements. The ceilings of the grand chambers were coffered with Japanese elements; however, Western chairs, tables and heavy curtains furnished the spaces. The floors of the public rooms had parquets or carpets, while
1012-832: The Music Department of the Board of Ceremonies of the Imperial Household, the Archives and Mausolea Department Imperial Household Agency, structures for the guards such as the Saineikan dojo , and the Museum of the Imperial Collections . Several structures that were added since the Meiji period were removed over time to allow construction of the East Garden. In 1932, the kuretake-ryō was built as
1056-623: The area was declared by the Japanese government a "Special Historic Relic" under the Cultural Properties Protection Law. The Tōkagakudō ( 桃華楽堂 , Peach Blossom Music Hall) is located to the east of the former main donjon of Edo Castle in the Honmaru. Designed by Kenji Imai , this music hall was built in commemoration of the 60th birthday of Empress Kōjun on 6 March 1963. The ferro-concrete building covers
1100-563: The artworks. The Kyūden is used for both receiving state guests and holding official state ceremonies and functions. The Matsu-no-Ma ( Pine Chamber ) is the throne room. The Emperor gives audiences to the Prime Minister in this room, as well as appointing or dismissing ambassadors and Ministers of State . It is also the room where the Prime Minister and Chief Justice is appointed to office. The Fukiage Garden has carried
1144-511: The definition of the literary term trope to also describe a writer's usage of commonly recurring an overused literary techniques and rhetorical devices (characters and situations) motifs , and clichés in a work of creative literature. The term trope derives from the Greek τρόπος ( tropos ), 'a turn, a change', related to the root of the verb τρέπειν ( trepein ), 'to turn, to direct, to alter, to change'; this means that
1188-488: The dominant tropes of an epoch" and to "find those tropes in literary and non-literary texts", an interdisciplinary investigation of which Michel Foucault was an "important exemplar". A specialized use is the medieval amplification of texts from the liturgy, such as in the Kyrie Eleison ( Kyrie, / magnae Deus potentia, / liberator hominis, / transgressoris mandati, / eleison ). The most important example of such
1232-529: The early 4th century. In the 1920s, then-Crown Prince Hirohito served as regent during several years of his father's reign, when Emperor Taishō was physically unable to fulfill his duties. However, the Prince Regent lacked the symbolic powers of the throne which he could only attain after his father's death. The current Constitution of Japan considers the Emperor as "the symbol of the State and of
1276-422: The eastern part was renamed East Garden ( 東御苑 , Higashi-Gyoen ) and became a public park in 1968. Interior images of the Meiji-era palace The present Imperial Palace encompasses the retrenchments of the former Edo Castle. The modern Kyūden ( 宮殿 ) designed for various imperial court functions and receptions is located in the old Nishinomaru section of the palace grounds. On a much more modest scale,
1320-419: The enthronement ceremony of Emperor Taisho in 1912. It sits on an octagonal dais, 5 metres (16 ft) above the floor. It is separated from the rest of the room by a curtain . The sliding door that hides the Emperor from view is called the kenjō no shōji ( 賢聖障子 ) , and has an image of 32 celestial saints painted upon it, which became one of the primary models for all of Heian period painting. The throne
1364-408: The foot of the castle hill was originally planted in 1636 by Kobori Enshu , a famed landscape artist and garden designer, but it was destroyed by fire in 1867. The current layout was created in 1968, based on a plan drawn up during the reign of ninth shogun, Tokugawa Ieshige . The Suwa no Chaya ( 諏訪の茶屋 ) is a teahouse that was located in the Fukiage Garden during the Edo period. It moved to
Chrysanthemum Throne - Misplaced Pages Continue
1408-471: The name since the Edo period and is used as the residential area for the Imperial Family . The Fukiage Palace ( 吹上御所 , Fukiage gosho ) , achieved in 1993, was used as the primary residence of Akihito from December 8, 1993, to March 2020. After a period of refurbishment, Naruhito , Masako and Aiko moved in in September 2021. The Fukiage Ōmiya Palace ( 吹上大宮御所 , Fukiage Ōmiya-gosho ) in
1452-584: The night of 25 May 1945, most structures of the Imperial Palace were destroyed in the Allied firebombing raid on Tokyo . According to the US bomber pilot Richard Lineberger, Emperor's Palace was the target of their special mission on July 29, 1945, and was hit with 2000-pound bombs. In August 1945, in the closing days of the Pacific War, Emperor Hirohito met with his Privy Council and made decisions culminating in
1496-605: The northern section was originally the residence of Emperor Showa and Empress Kōjun and was called the Fukiage Palace . After the Emperor's death in 1989, the palace was renamed the Fukiage Ōmiya Palace and was the residence of the Empress Dowager until her death in 2000. It is currently not in use. The palace precincts include the Three Palace Sanctuaries ( 宮中三殿 , Kyūchū-sanden ) . Parts of
1540-405: The property of the nation-state from the person and personal holdings of the Emperor. According to legend, the Japanese monarchy is said to have been founded in 660 BCE by Emperor Jimmu ; Emperor Naruhito is the 126th monarch to occupy the Chrysanthemum Throne. The extant historical records only reach back to Emperor Ōjin , regarded as the 15th emperor, and who is considered to have reigned into
1584-582: The public, except for reserved guided tours from Tuesdays to Saturdays (which access only the Kyūden Totei Plaza in front of the Chowaden). Each New Year (January 2) and Emperor's Birthday (February 23), the public is permitted to enter through the Nakamon (inner gate) where they gather in the Kyūden Totei Plaza. The Imperial Family appears on the balcony before the crowd and the Emperor normally gives
1628-419: The residential spaces used traditional tatami mats. The main audience hall was the central part of the palace. It was the largest building in the compound. Guests were received there for public events. The floor space was more than 223 tsubo or approximately 737.25 m (7,935.7 sq ft). In the interior, the coffered ceiling was traditional Japanese-style, while the floor was parquetry. The roof
1672-785: The site of the old Edo Castle . After the capitulation of the shogunate and the Meiji Restoration , the inhabitants, including the Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu , were required to vacate the premises of the Edo Castle . Leaving the Kyoto Imperial Palace on 26 November 1868, the Emperor arrived at the Edo Castle, made it to his new residence and renamed it to Tōkei Castle ( 東京城 , Tōkei-jō ) . At this time, Tōkyō had also been called Tōkei. He left for Kyōto again, and after coming back on 9 May 1869, it
1716-424: The term is used metaphorically to denote, among other things, metaphorical language. Tropes and their classification were an important field in classical rhetoric . The study of tropes has been taken up again in modern criticism, especially in deconstruction . Tropological criticism (not to be confused with tropological reading , a type of biblical exegesis ) is the historical study of tropes, which aims to "define
1760-471: The time had not indicated whether it would support the project. In the Meiji period , most structures from the Edo Castle disappeared. Some were cleared to make way for other buildings, while others were destroyed by earthquakes and fire. For example, the wooden double bridges ( 二重橋 , Nijūbashi ) over the moat were replaced with stone and iron bridges. The buildings of the Imperial Palace constructed in
1804-475: The unity of the people." The modern Emperor is a constitutional monarch . The metonymic meanings of "Chrysanthemum Throne" encompass the modern monarchy and the chronological list of legendary and historical monarchs of Japan. The actual throne Takamikura ( 高御座 ) is located in the Kyoto Imperial Palace. It is the oldest surviving throne used by the monarchy. The current model was built for
Chrysanthemum Throne - Misplaced Pages Continue
1848-421: Was founded in 2004 with the aim of a historically correct reconstruction of at least the main donjon. In March 2013, Naotaka Kotake, head of the group, said that "the capital city needs a symbolic building", and that the group planned to collect donations and signatures on a petition in support of rebuilding the tower. A reconstruction blueprint had been made based on old documents. The Imperial Household Agency at
1892-538: Was renamed to Imperial Castle ( 皇城 , Kōjō ) . Previous fires had destroyed the Honmaru area containing the old donjon (which itself burned in the 1657 Meireki fire ). On the night of 5 May 1873, a fire consumed the Nishinomaru Palace (formerly the shōgun's residence), and the new imperial Palace Castle ( 宮城 , Kyūjō ) was constructed on the site in 1888. The castle has many gardens. A non-profit "Rebuilding Edo-jo Association" ( NPO法人 江戸城再建 )
1936-589: Was styled similarly to the Kyoto Imperial Palace, but was covered with (fireproof) copper plates rather than Japanese cypress shingles. In the late Taishō and early Shōwa period, more concrete buildings were added, such as the headquarters of the Imperial Household Ministry and the Privy Council . These structures exhibited only token Japanese elements. From 1888 to 1948, the compound was called Palace Castle ( 宮城 , Kyūjō ) . On
#396603