EXCLUSIVE: Abe to draw Kanji for enthronement ceremony banners

April 7, 2019

Tokyo--Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe is seen drawing "banzai," or hurray, for banners to be used in the "Sokuirei-Seiden-no-Gi" ceremony to proclaim the new Emperor's enthronement, government sources said Saturday.

Abe will draw banzai in kanji characters, which will be reproduced in embroidery on the "banzai-ban" banners.

By doing so, he will express his congratulations, on the behalf of the people, for Crown Prince Naruhito's accession to the throne set for May 1, the sources said.

The government will follow the procedure taken when the era changed to the current Heisei, the sources added.

The ceremony, to be held Oct. 22 at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, is the main event in the "Sokui-no-Rei" enthronement ceremonies, with 2,500 people from Japan and abroad set to attend.

An array of flags, including the banzai-ban banners, will be raised at the palace's courtyard.

The word "banzai," written with two kanji characters, will be embroidered in gold onto the banners, made of red brocade.

When the government announced the new era name, "Reiwa," on Monday, a calligraphy of the name written in two characters was shown at a press conference. It was a work of an official at the Cabinet Office.

This followed the steps taken when the name "Heisei" was announced in 1989.

Some within the government wanted Abe to write the calligraphy for the new era name. But this did not come true.

Abe has been applauded for his excellent penmanship. His skills will be showcased at the ceremony in October this year.

In the previous Sokuirei-Seiden-no-Gi ceremony held for Emperor Akihito in November 1990, the characters of banzai for the banzai-ban banners were written by the then Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu. Two such flags, each measuring 550 centimeters long and 90 centimeters wide, were used in the ceremony. Jiji Press