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Emperor’s Birthday/天皇誕生日

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The view of a part of the Imperial Palace

Emperor Naruhito’s birthday falls on February 23rd, which is a national holiday in Japan.
Since he was born in 1960, he is turning 62 years old this year.

How long have we celebrated the Emperor’s Birthday?
The ceremony, used to be called Tencho Setsu, started in 775 A.D. during the period of the 49th Emperor Kounin. 
According to the historical papers, the subordinates celebrated it by presenting sake or rice wine to the emperor.

Today, the emperor attends four ceremonies including a congratulatory palace visit.
Other ceremonies are the parties with government officials and foreign ambassadors(around 500 people).
Shinto shrines across the country have special ceremonies.
On the other hand, the marine warships are decorated with the flag(full dress ship).

There are two national holidays that used to celebrate as Emperor’s Birthday.
These are Showa Day falls on April 29th as Emperor Akihito’s birthday and Culture Day falls November 3rd as Emperor Mutsuhito’s birthday.

Like the New Year’s congratulatory palace visit, we are supposed to meet Emperor Naruhito on that day.
However, due to the pandemic, all congratulatory palace visits, aside from the New Year’s one in 2020, were canceled after the new emperor ascended to the throne.

We hope we will celebrate his next birthday.

【Translation for language learners of either English or Japanese】/英語・日本語学習者向け翻訳 えいご ・  にほんごがくしゅうしゃむ  ほんやく

天皇誕生日は、二月二十三日で、日本では祝日です。
今上陛下は昭和35年にお生まれなので、今年62歳になられます。

天皇誕生日は、いつ頃からお祝いされているのでしょうか。
775年49代光仁天皇の時代に、以前は《天長節》と呼ばれていた儀式が始まりました。
史書によれば、お酒を献上してお祝いしたとされています。

今日、天皇陛下は、一般参賀を含む四つの祝賀の儀式等に臨まれます。
他の儀式は、政府高官や外国の大使などが招待される祝賀会などです(500人程)。
全国の神社では、天長祭が行われ、海上自衛隊の自衛艦では、満艦飾が行われます。

過去の天皇誕生日が名前を変えて祝日になっている日が、二日あります。
昭和天皇の誕生日であった四月二十九日の《昭和の日》と、同じく明治天皇の十一月三日の《文化の日》です。

本来なら、新年の一般参賀と同様に、天皇陛下に(ガラス越しですが)お目にかかれる機会なのですが、今上陛下になってから、コロナの影響で、2020年の新年に実施された以外は、全て中止となっています。

来年は、お祝いできるといいですね。

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Miki

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