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Sep 6, 2025 13:07 (JST)
Tokyo, Sept. 6 (Jiji Press)–A traditional coming-of-age ceremony was held for Japan’s Prince Hisahito on his 19th birthday on Saturday, following a one-year postponement due to his university entrance exam preparations.
It was the first “Seinen-shiki” ceremony for a male member of the Imperial Family in 40 years, since the one for the young prince’s father, Crown Prince Akishino.
The Imperial House Law stipulates that the coming of age is 18 for the Emperor, the Crown Prince and an Emperor’s grandson who is next in line to the throne. While Prince Hisahito, a nephew of Emperor Naruhito, does not fall under this rule, he reached the age of adulthood under the revised Civil Code, also at 18, last year.
Saturday’s ceremony kicked off with the prince, currently in his first year at the University of Tsukuba, receiving a crown for adults from the Emperor’s messenger at the Crown Prince’s residence in Tokyo’s Minato Ward.
During the “Kakan-no-Gi,” or the main ritual of the ceremony, at the Imperial Palace, Prince Hisahito arrived wearing the “ketteki-no-ho” attire for minors. In front of his parents, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess Kiko, as well as the Emperor and Empress Masako, the prince replaced his “kuchokokusaku,” a headwear for minors, with the crown for adults.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
Jiji Press
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