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Among the ceremonies for the enthronement of newly succeeded Tenno, Dajo-Sai rituals have come to have the most important meaning. Daijo-Sai is the ceremony that Tenno-to-be has newly harvested rice in the temporary palaces that were built of the ceremonies. After these ceremonies, the sure-to-be Tenno will be an authentic Tenno.

The very basic principle ruling systems existed in the ancient Yamato Kingdom before the Tempyo Kingdom (729-794). Yamato Kingdom was a kind of united tribal kingdom. Each tribal group had their own deities. Only the leaders of each tribe could serve their own deities. The interesting fact was even Tenno had no right to serve rituals for the deity of other tribes.

Nihon-Sho-Ki described the story of Tenno in the ancient era. At that time, the Tenno, Sujin Tenno, conquered the other tribes’ territories. However, his military troops were in great trouble and the territory itself became severely devastated. Tenno was deeply worried about the situation, so he asked his media to find out the reason. An unknown deity appeared in his dream and said, “I’m a deity of this land, but my folk who had served me scattered away, so no one offers prayer to me. That is why I am haunting this land. This is the reason of this disaster.”

After knowing this fact, the Tenno tried to serve the deity himself in vain. The deity reappeared and asked the Tenno to find out the true successor of the chieftain of the land. The Tenno at last found out his successor, Taneko Ohta, and asked him to offer rituals. After the ceremony, Tenno’s troops recovered again and the land became rich.

The rule of holding the rituals for deities was that the ruler of the tribes could only hold their ancestor deities. The interesting fact is Tenno has no authority to serve for deities who belong to other tribes. The ruler of the tribes served for their ancestor deities. This, at the same time, means Tenno can only serve for Amaterasu-Oh-Mi-Kami and Susano-O-no-Mikoto and various direct ancestor deities

Among serving ancestry deities, Daijo-Sai is a ceremony. Daijo-Sai is held only for the succession of Tenno. It was held in November in Japan. According to the current rule after the Meiji Restoration, the timing of the Daijo-Sai depends on when the former Emperor passed away. I would like to explain how Daijo-Sai, one of the enthronement ceremonies, is held in the later chapter. Daijo-Sai has a lot to do with rice harvest, which is, in a way, a little like Thanksgiving in the United States. However, as the social structure and origin is different in either culture, it is impossible to say that Daijo-Sai and Thanksgiving are similar.

Daijo-Sai, has a very important meaning and is related to Japanese national character. Rice has been the most important food for Japanese people for over a thousand years. The stories of the birth of rice and grains are written in one of the oldest historical literatures, Kojiki (712 A.D), the literature of old events based on the oral history, and Nihon-Sho-Ki (completed in720), the oldest government-sponsored historical documents of Japan.

The rituals of Daijo-Sai lasted for months depending on when the Emperor passed down his throne to his successor before the Meiji Restoration, because they had to wait for rice harvest. Throughout Japanese history, in many cases, Tenno’s throne was often given to the next Tenno, while the former Tenno was still alive. However, Dr. Origuchi insisted, “Tenno succeeds to Tenno’s position after the former Tenno passed away. Tama, which the former Tenno possessed in his flesh, should be transplanted into the newly succeeded Tenno’s flesh.” This idea is obviously reflected in the materialistic world view.

Chuai Tenno’s Queen Jingu Kogo, evoked her Tamas, when she was in trouble on the Japan Sea. Her Tamas appeared from the bottom of the deep sea, not from her body, and saved her and all of her troops. After that, her Tamas returned to the bottom of the sea. This story tells you that Tama belonged to the Underworld, which is the territory of Susano-O. She evoked many Tama. The important point is her Tama were not in her flesh.

Origuchi seemed to have mixed up Tama with Tama-shi-Hi, a soul. He defined Tama as Tama-shi-Hi. As you know, Tama-shi-Hi, a soul, is in every human’s flesh. Tenno is also not an exception. Tama must be strictly distinguished from Tama-shi-Hi. I will explain this Tama-shi-Hi later.