Photo/Illutration Local farmers and officials take part in a harvest ceremony in Takanezawa, Tochigi Prefecture, on Sept. 27 to gather rice to be presented to the imperial Daijosai ceremony in November. (Hiroyuki Yamamoto)

Farmers in traditional white kimono finished harvesting rice that will be used in a symbolic ceremony in November to commemorate the ascension of Emperor Naruhito.

The rice is for Daijosai rites, during which the new emperor presents grain harvested this year to imperial ancestors and various deities. According to tradition, the new emperor offers prayers for peace and an abundant harvest for the nation.

The prefectures where the rice is harvested are also selected according to tradition, and this year's auspicious regions are Tochigi and Kyoto.

Local farmers as well as the governors of the two prefectures took part in separate ceremonies held Sept. 27 to harvest rice from the "saiden," the special paddies where rice to be used for the Daijosai is grown. The owner of the rice paddy where the harvest is conducted is known as the "otanushi" for the ceremony and plays a central role in the harvest

The ceremony in Tochigi took place in Takanezawa on a paddy owned by Takeo Ishitsuka, 55. After he and other local residents, dressed in the white kimono that is traditionally used in Shinto rituals, cut the rice stalks, a representative of the emperor solemnly confirmed that the stalks were from the designated saiden. The stalks will be dried in the town before being formally presented for the Daijosai.

At about the same time, a similar ceremony was taking place in the rice paddies of Hisao Nakagawa of Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture.

The rice varieties harvested were "Tochigi no hoshi" and "Kinuhikari."

For the Daijosai ceremony, each saiden will present 180 kilograms of polished rice and 7.5 kg of brown rice.

Tradition has it that the saiden be from the provinces of Yuki and Suki, representing areas in eastern and western Japan. In May, a separate ceremony was held within the Imperial Palace grounds to decide which prefectures would have the honor of being selected as the Yuki and Suki for the Daijosai ceremony for Naruhito.

A tortoise shell was burned and auspicious signs read from the cracks that emerged to decide on Tochigi and Kyoto as this year's saiden prefectures.

Although the governors of both prefectures attended, the Daijosai for Akihito, Naruhito's father, in 1990 was marked by controversy because the Oita governor attended the rice harvesting ceremony in his prefecture, the one selected as the Suki province.

A lawsuit was filed on grounds the governor's attendance violated the constitutional separation of politics and religion. The Daijosai ceremony has many religious overtones and the plaintiffs said politicians had no place attending any ceremony linked with the Daijosai.

But the Supreme Court ruled that there was no violation of the Constitution because the objective of the rice harvest had social overtones related to the emperor. It also concluded that attending the ceremony in no way implied support for a specific religion.

(This article was written by Takuya Ikeda and Michiyo Sato.)