Princess Aiko Part 2

[Elspeth]

She was born on 1 December 2001.

[mandyy]

Ceremony held for Princess Aiko for good health, well-being
A traditional ceremony to give thanks for Princess Aiko's growth and to wish her good health was held Saturday, with the 4-year-old daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako dressed in traditional attire.
After the "Chakko-no-Gi" ceremony at the Togu Palace in Tokyo's Minato Ward in the morning, Princess Aiko visited Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, wearing a "mo," a kind of long skirt her grandfather gave her at the time of her birth.............
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/061111/kyodo/d8lakauo0.html

Japan's Princess Aiko, clad in traditional ceremonial costume, listens to her mother Crown Princess Masako as her father Crown Prince Naruhito looks on as they appear at their residence, Togu Palace, in Tokyo after the Chakko-no-gi ceremony Saturday, Nov. 11, 2006. Princess Aiko, who will turn 5-year-old on Dec. 1, had her first rite of passage as a member of Japan's royal family in the day.
#1-3: In this photo released by Imperial Household Agency, Japan's Princess Aiko, daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, is helped to wear a traditional ceremonial long skirt by court ladies during a rehearsal for the Nov. 11 Chakko-no-gi ceremony at her residence, Togu Palace, in Tokyo Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006.

Photos from AP via Yahoo
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Photo from Getty images, Polfoto, Profimedia, Asahi news, and JIJI press

Video from ANN, and TBS news (will expire soon)

[Poppy]

Please watch

http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/ann/news/web/soci_news9.html?now=20061111162108

http://fnn.fujitv.co.jp/headlines/CONN00100158.html

http://www.news24.jp/70949.html

http://www.nhk.or.jp/news/2006/11/11/k20061111000064.html

[magnik]

Aiko looks like a doll in these traditional costumes She is adorable.

I like those - happy and full of love family
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/11112006/46...rs-father.html
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...97dfb2427ad293

[Emmily]

Thank you for these pictures. She is such a darling little girl. I love the last two where Aiko is looking at her mother and when Masako is whispering to her. How sweet!

[mandyy]

Chakko no Gi ceremony held for Princess Aiko
.....Princess Aiko, dressed in traditional attire of pink kimono and purple hakama, and carrying a fan, greeted Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako. The family then visited an Imperial Palace sanctuary and greeted the Emperor and Empress.
According to the Imperial Household Agency, Princess Aiko recently started riding a bicycle with training wheels in the crown prince's residence. She also plays with a stuffed animal and speaks to her parents using some ancient words that she learned from folk tales illustrated with picture cards.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national...12TDY01003.htm

[BeatrixFan]

I'm unsure what a Chakko no Gi ceremony is but little Aiko looks extremely adorable.

[magnik]

Originally Posted by BeatrixFan

I'm unsure what a Chakko no Gi ceremony is but little Aiko looks extremely adorable.

*Chakko-no-Gi is a ceremony passed down in the Imperial family from the Heian Period to celebrate the passage from infancy to childhood. Boys wear hakama, a kind of trousers, and girls wear mo, a kind of long skirt, for the first time.
http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/kisyakaike...1801-01-1.html

[Avalon]

Little Aiko looks simply adorable.
thanks for explaining, magnik. I am afraid I had no idea what is Chakko-no-Gi as well.

[Mandy]

Aiko looks quite charming... She would make an elegant Empress.

[magnik]

Originally Posted by Mandy

Aiko looks quite charming... She would make an elegant Empress.

I hope soo

[corazon]

aiko is an adorable child, I feel bad because she can`t be empress.

[wlee]

From Mainichi Daily News,

Princess Aiko dresses up in traditional costume for ancient ceremony

Princess Aiko turns 5 on Dec. 1. According to the Imperial Household Agency, she has fun playing with her friends at kindergarten, enjoys playing the Japanese word game "Shiritori," and often she sings songs such as "Donguri Korokoro" (A rolling acorn) in the car on the way to and from kindergarten.
In an autumn trip in the middle of last month, she embroidered her name on a bag in Roman letters. She reportedly sometimes helps her mother, Crown Princess Masako, to make her packed lunch.
At the Togu Palace where she lives, Princess Aiko enjoys picking flowers in the garden and having races, and plays games with stuffed toys, pretending to look after them. She sometimes displays the flowers she picks in the rooms of her parents and palace workers. Recently, she has been practicing riding a bicycle using trainer wheels, and she reportedly has an interest in old words from picture-card shows, which she uses herself. (Mainichi)

[Vanesa]

Oohhh!!! How cute! She looks not only beatiful but worth in her traditional costume...Princess Aiko is a little jewel.

Vanesa.

[sara1981]

like her mother the CP Masako wores costumes when she marries to Prince in 1993 if have pictures? in past

[magnik]

You mean this sara1981?
http://www.benhills.com/images/bookMasakoFront.jpg
more Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan & Masako Owada 1993

It was an elaborate $100,000 silk wedding costume for her traditional nuptials.

[Jackswife]

Aiko is so sweet and adorable. She seems to be the joy of Naruhito and Masako's lives. Great to see these pictures.

[RhapsodyBrat]

Princess Aiko looks like a doll! she looks majestic in the red kimono and very child-like in the pink one (my favorite photo of her!).

i hope someone can help, but do her kimonos have any significance or meaning? from what fabric is it made and how many layers is she wearing? i read that the ceremony dates from the Heian period and at the time, women usually wore many layers of kimonos.

thanks!

[Elspeth]

Those garments are made of silk, and the pattern is woven, not dyed or embroidered. Usually for members of the royal family the rondels would have a stylised depiction of a sixteen-petalled chrysanthemum, but I can't see it closely enough to be sure what the design is.

I'm not really sure about the formal kimono, because the article says that girls wear a skirt called a mo whereas boys wear baggy trousers called hakama; however, from what I understand, the mo is a train which is worn at the back over several layers of kimono, all of which are worn over hakama by women as well as men.

If you look at the pictures on these pages

http://www.clotheslinejournal.com/heian.html
http://www.nijo.co.jp/coupon/p23.htm

the mo is the white train at the back, and you can see the red trousers under all the layers of robes.

These days, as a result of sumptuary laws, the formal outfit (called juni hitoe, which means twelve layers) is a maximum of five layers, although it doesn't look as though Aiko is wearing that many. The different colour combinations for the layers are dependent on the season and the social class of the person.

I'm not sure what the pink coat is about; it may just be a less formal robe to wear over the hakama once the formal layers were removed. The long sleeves, which nearly reach the ground, are worn by children and unmarried women. If you look at photos of Empress Michiko in kimono, her sleeves are a lot less voluminous, which is the way married and older women wear them.

[RhapsodyBrat]

thank you so much for the info Elspeth! the design on Aiko's red kimono doesn't look like the stylised 16-petalled chrysanthemum. it seems to be elongated. and based from the photos posted, she might be wearing just two layers.

good thing i just remembered my previous report on The Tale of Genji and the ju-ni hitoe has a history -- the name was actually a misnomer. if anyone else would like to look it up, here's the link: http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/japanese/heian.html

thanks again Elspeth!