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Princess Aiko of Japan traveled this past weekend to Mie Prefecture, a coastal region in central Japan, to observe and participate in one of the country’s most sacred Shinto ceremonies. The Grand Shrines of Ise, considered among the holiest sites in the country, are rebuilt from scratch once every two decades in a ritual known as the Shikinen Sengu, a tradition that has been observed for more than 1,300 years. The next reconstruction is scheduled for 2033.
The only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, Princess Aiko arrived Saturday to visit a facility where timber for the upcoming rebuilding is prepared, per the Japan Times. On Sunday, dressed in a long white dress, she paid her respects at the shrine complex before watching the Kawabiki, a ceremony in which a large crowd hauls timber down a river as part of the preparations for the reconstruction. As described by Nippon, she then joined local residents in the Okihiki ceremony, pulling a rope in a white happi coat, a traditional short jacket, to drag sacred timber into the inner shrine grounds, chanting in time with the crowd as she did so.
The visit comes at a moment of unusual public attention on Princess Aiko, driven largely by a new law reshaping Japan’s royal family. Japan’s new Imperial House Law, passed in July and set to take effect on October 24, allows male descendants from 11 former imperial family branches to be adopted into the Imperial Family and permits female imperial family members to retain their royal status after marriage. The latter provision is directly relevant to Aiko, who under the previous law would have lost her royal title upon marrying a commoner.
What the law does not do is open the line of succession to women. Princess Aiko remains ineligible to succeed her father on the Chrysanthemum Throne. That line currently runs through only three people: Crown Prince Fumihito, 60, the Emperor’s brother; Prince Hisahito, 19, the Emperor’s nephew; and Prince Hitachi, 90, the Emperor’s uncle. Under the new law, men adopted into the imperial family would have no succession rights themselves, though sons born to them after adoption would enter the line.
However, public support for female emperors has been climbing: a recent poll by Nikkei and TV Tokyo taken after the law passed found that more than 80% of respondents were in favor.
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.