THE DAIJŌSAI IS the oldest and most mysterious ceremony in the ritual sequence which marks the consecration of the Japanese emperor. It is also possibly the oldest ntual of its kind to survive in the world. Its exact age is not known. The first record of its performance comes in the reign of Emperor Tenmu (r. 672—687). But certain features of the rite — the absence of any metal in the building of the Daijōgū, the rough earthenware vessels and oak-leaf dishes from which the emperor eats and on which he offers food to the kami — indicate that its ongm may take us back to a prehistoric age.

During its long history of at least a millennium-and-a-half the nte has naturally suffered many vicissitudes. Wars, rebellions, and impoverishment of the impenal house led to periods, longer or shorter, of discontinuance. The longest lapse lasted formore than two centuries, from 1466 to 1687, when civil war and its aftermath prevented its performance. Dunng this long gap much of the tradition surrounding the ntual was lost. The ceremonial prescnptions which dunng the early tenth century had been committed to wnting in the Engishiki were safely preserved, but much of the surrounding oral tradition, which had been a closely guarded secret of the impenal household, was forgotten.

Among the lost parts of the ntual were the entire geinō element — the ancient folk songs, the furugoto or old stones chanted by the kataribe minstrels, the abongmal cnes and dances. Some of these have been ‘revived’ in recent times by court musicians, but their reconstructions are not the authentic ancient tunes. Lost or suppressed also was the very name of the divinity or divinities in whose honour the nte was performed. Lost also was all knowledge of the symbolic meaning of certain ntual objects presenbed for the ceremony (Okada 1979, pp. 260—62). It is assumed that, like all ntes whereby a sacral king is consecrated, the symbolic sequence confers on the new sovereign the sacred power which transforms him from a human to the divine condition necessary to become a king. But exactly what the ntual sequence signified in terms of symbolism is still far from clear. A number of enigmas still remain.