Newsfrom Japan

Tokyo, July 26 (Jiji Press)--Construction began on Friday for "Daijokyu," a set of some 30 temporary halls for the "Daijosai" thanksgiving ceremony slated for Nov. 14-15, to be attended by Japanese Emperor Naruhito, who ascended the throne on May 1.

The facilities, including "Yukiden" and "Sukiden," will be built at the location of the now-dismantled Edo Castle's main building in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.

A "jichinsai" ceremony to purify the site was held at the East Gardens on Friday morning. This was attended by nine people, including senior officials from the Imperial Household Agency and corporate officials in charge of the Daijokyu construction work.

They prayed for safe construction by burying pieces of silk cloth in 10 locations at the construction site, after a "shoten," or ritual master, gave a Shinto prayer.

The site for Daijokyu, seen to be completed in late October, will span 89.7 meters east to west and 88.15 meters north to south. It will take up 6,510 square meters, nearly 80 pct of the size of Daijokyu for the last Daijosai ceremony, held for previous Emperor Akihito, now Emperor Emeritus, in 1990, after he assumed the throne in 1989.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]