The Takamikura () is the ceremonial seat of the Emperor of Japan, used most notably at the enthronement ceremony and, historically, at other major court ceremonies such as chōga, the formal New Year's audience. The Japanese term Takamikura is commonly rendered in English as "imperial throne", but it does not denote only the chair or other seat on which the emperor sits. Since antiquity, the Takamikura has been organized around a raised platform for the emperor's seat, together with architectural and textile elements such as pillars, curtains and a canopy. The seat itself took various forms depending on period and ceremony, including floor-level seating, a daishōji (a low, bench-like platform), and an imperial chair (go-ishi). Scholars have debated whether, in antiquity, the pillars, canopy and other elements above the platform were normally kept in place or assembled for individual ceremonies.
In ancient Japan, the Takamikura was erected in major ceremonial halls of the imperial palace complex, including the Daigokuden (Great Hall of State) and the Burakuden, the principal hall of the Buraku-in. It was used for state ceremonies including enthronements, New Year's audiences, and sechie (formal court assemblies and banquets). The enthronement proclamation of Emperor Monmu, issued on the 17th day of the eighth month of 697, contains the expression . After the Daigokuden of the Heian Palace was destroyed by fire in 1177, the Takamikura was set up on a reduced scale at other locations, including the Shishinden in the inner palace (dairi) and the government compound of the Daijō-kan (Council of State). From the later medieval period onward, imperial enthronements were held in the Shishinden of the imperial residence in Kyoto. In the early modern period, the Takamikura was used not only for enthronements but also for court banquets following the Daijō-sai, after that ceremony was revived.
The present Takamikura consists of a square black-lacquered base platform and an octagonal, pavilion-like superstructure erected upon it. Inside is the go-ishi, on which the emperor sits. The roof is surmounted by phoenix ornaments, and the structure is further adorned with mirrors, jeweled banners and curtains. Together with the adjacent Michōdai, the corresponding ceremonial seat used by the empress, it was constructed for the enthronement of Emperor Taishō in 1915. For the enthronements of Emperor Akihito in 1990 and Emperor Naruhito in 2019, the Takamikura and Michōdai were transported from the Kyoto Imperial Palace to the Tokyo Imperial Palace, where they were used in the principal enthronement ceremony, the Sokuirei-Seiden-no-gi. They are normally housed in the Shishinden of the Kyoto Imperial Palace.
History
Ancient period
In ancient Japan, the Takamikura was used for ceremonies held in the Daigokuden (Great Hall of State), including enthronements and chōga (formal New Year's audiences), and for sechie (formal court assemblies and banquets) held in the Burakuden. In the Heian Palace, Takamikura were installed not only in the Daigokuden and Burakuden but also in the Butokuden. The enthronement proclamation of Emperor Monmu, issued on the 17th day of the eighth month of 697, contains the expression , an early attestation of the term Takamikura.
From the mid-seventh to the early eighth century, octagonal kofun began to appear among royal and imperial tombs. Danno-zuka Kofun, identified as the tomb of Emperor Jomei; Gobyōno Kofun, the tomb of Emperor Tenji; Noguchi no Ō no Haka Kofun, the joint tomb of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō; and Nakao-yama Kofun, identified as the tomb of Emperor Monmu, are all octagonal burial mounds. Kengoshizuka Kofun, which excavations in 2010 confirmed to be octagonal, has also been proposed as the joint tomb of Empress Saimei and Princess Hashihito.
Some scholars have suggested a connection between the octagonal plan of these tombs and the octagonal form of the Takamikura. In later documentary sources, the Takamikura is described as consisting of a square lower platform and octagonal middle and upper platforms, leading to the suggestion that octagonal tombs may have been modeled on its form.
Another interpretation links the octagonal form of the Takamikura to a conception of imperial rulership in which the emperor governed the "eight directions of heaven and earth". The "eight directions" comprise the four cardinal and four intercardinal directions and have been understood as symbolizing rule extending throughout the entire realm. Comparable symbolic uses of the number eight appear in expressions such as , invoking rule over the "eight corners", and ("Great Eight Islands"), a traditional designation for the Japanese archipelago. The octagonal form of the Takamikura has accordingly been interpreted as a visual expression of the emperor's rule over the whole country.
Heian and medieval periods
Illustrations of the Takamikura survive that are thought to preserve the form used at enthronement ceremonies in the late Heian period (794–1185). The Kujō manuscript of the Sokui Shōzoku Ezu, held by the Archives and Mausolea Department of the Imperial Household Agency, is a two-scroll manuscript copied during the Muromachi period (1336–1573). It depicts the Takamikura together with furnishings, costumes and other objects used in enthronement ceremonies. The manuscript belongs to a group of related texts, including the work conventionally known as the Bun'an Gosokui Chōdozu, that are thought to derive from a common archetype. Study of its colophon and related manuscripts suggests that this archetype formed part of a supplementary record in an unidentified diary compiled in connection with the enthronement of Emperor Konoe in 1141. It has further been suggested that the author of this supplementary record was probably Fujiwara no Yorinaga, who was then serving as naidaijin (Minister of the Center).
After the Daigokuden of the Heian Palace was destroyed by fire in 1177, the Takamikura was set up on a reduced scale in other locations, including the Shishinden in the inner palace (dairi) and the government compound of the Daijō-kan (Council of State). During the medieval period, the Daijō-kan compound served as the venue for enthronement ceremonies, and this arrangement continued through the reign of Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado. After the Ōnin War, however, the compound fell into disrepair. For the enthronement of Emperor Go-Kashiwabara, the Shishinden of the imperial residence in Kyoto was therefore ceremonially treated as the main hall of the Daijō-kan compound. Thereafter, enthronement ceremonies were held in the Shishinden through the enthronement of Emperor Shōwa.
Attendance of regents and imperial mothers on the platform At the enthronement of a child emperor, a regent could attend the emperor on the platform of the Takamikura to assist him; from the enthronement of Emperor Horikawa in 1086 onward, this became customary. At the enthronement of Emperor Toba in 1107, the regent Fujiwara no Tadazane took his place on a round mat at the northeastern (ushi-tora) corner of the middle tier of the Takamikura and, following the precedent of 1086, presented fruit to the emperor.
In the case of Emperor Toba, who was enthroned at the age of five in 1107, Princess Reishi, who had been designated as Toba's junbo (honorary mother) to fulfill the ritual role of an imperial mother, rode in the same imperial palanquin as the emperor and ascended the Takamikura with him. The Gosokui Shidai (Order of the Enthronement Ceremony), compiled for Toba's enthronement, also prescribed the procedure to be followed when an imperial mother was present: the empress serving in that role was to proceed to the Daigokuden and then take her seat within the curtained area on the western side of the Takamikura. As a precedent, the text quotes the Chōwaki: , recording an instance in which the imperial mother occupied the Takamikura together with the emperor, with the two separated by a three-shaku (approximately 90 cm) kichō, a portable curtained screen.
Sokui kanjō (enthronement consecration) The Gosokui Shidai, compiled for the enthronement of Emperor Toba in 1107, discusses earlier precedents for esoteric Buddhist mudras in connection with the procedure for ascending the Takamikura. In describing the enthronement of Emperor Go-Sanjō in 1068, it records that the emperor formed a mudra resembling the "fist mudra of Vairocana". It also cites another precedent in which the emperor first ascended the Takamikura at an auspicious time and then formed a mudra.
Emperor Go-Sanjō's use of a mudra has traditionally been regarded as evidence relating to the origins of the later practice of sokui kanjō, an esoteric Buddhist consecration associated with imperial enthronement. There is, however, no confirmed instance of the same procedure being performed after his reign. The earliest securely attested instance of sokui kanjō involving the transmission of mudras and mantras from the Fujiwara regental house to the emperor is generally considered to be that of Emperor Fushimi in the late Kamakura period.
Early modern period
The enthronement of Emperor Reigen, held on the 27th day of the fourth month of 1663, is depicted in a pair of folding screens titled Enthronement of Emperor Reigen; Abdication of Emperor Go-Sai, painted by Kanō Einō. The right-hand screen shows Reigen seated within the Takamikura in the Shishinden, wearing a benkan crown and a red kon'e ceremonial robe. The scene represents the climax of the enthronement ceremony, when the newly enthroned emperor, previously concealed behind ceremonial fans held by court ladies, was revealed. Among surviving folding-screen paintings of enthronement ceremonies, the work is considered exceptional in presenting a clear frontal view of the emperor.
In the early modern period, the Takamikura was used not only for enthronements but also for sechie held after the Daijō-sai. The Daijō-e, the broader cycle of rites centered on the Daijō-sai, was revived for Emperor Higashiyama in 1687 after an interruption of about 220 years. At first, however, it was observed in a simplified form: the Tatsu-no-hi sechie and Mi-no-hi sechie (banquets held on the Days of the Dragon and Snake in the traditional calendar) were omitted, and only the Toyonoakari-no-sechie, the final banquet, was held. At the Daijō-e of Emperor Kōkaku in 1787, new adjoining platforms (tsugidan) were constructed to the east and west of the Takamikura and connected to it as part of the imperial seating arrangement for the Tatsu-no-hi and Mi-no-hi sechie. The Yuki and Suki Michōdai (curtained ceremonial seats), associated with the two ritually designated provinces that supplied the sacred grain for the Daijō-sai, were placed on these platforms. The ceremonial arrangement was also changed from the western-precedence form then in recent use to the older eastern-precedence form.
The Takamikura was destroyed in the Great Tenmei fire of 1788. The first enthronement ceremony held after the fire was that of Emperor Ninkō in 1817. A new Takamikura was constructed for this enthronement.