Festivities Omitted

Solemn priests of the Shinto faith entered the private apartments of Her Majesty, the Empress Nagako, at Tokyo last week, and reverently wound about her waist an obi of purest white silk some twelve feet long. Previously this girdle had been purified and made sacred at the Imperial Shrine. Its presentation to the Empress was in the nature of a symbolic pr yer that she might give birth in a few short weeks to a manchild, her first.*

Since there is a possibility that the man-being, a sublime and God-begotten "Son of Heaven," already exists, the ritual of last week should have been accompanied by loud banging of brazen instruments and public demonstrations. Because the Court is in mourning for the Emperor Hirohito's late father (TIME, Jan. 23) these festivities were omitted.

Spontaneous rejoicing burst forth, however, when it was announced that a crane had been seen to flap sedately three times around the Imperial Palace: a man-symbol, according to Japanese.

* Their majesties have a 20-month-old daughter, the Pricess Shigeko, Teru-No-Miya (TIME, Dec. 14, 1925).