Tokyo, Thursday, April 24, 2014, 05:07 pm
A 20 minute drive on emptied elevated highways took the motorcade to the Meiji Shrine which is surrounded by trees and was bathed in late afternoon sunlight.
President Obama walked into the courtyard of the shrine, a large open space, flanked by Caroline Kennedy and the chief priest and an assistant who wore white flowing robes.
The courtyard is a square open space flanked by wooden walls topped by a green tiled roof held up with thick beams.
President Obama toured the inner shrine mostly out of sight from the pool, then paused at a lectern to write a prayer on a wooden plaque. Normally the tablet would be strung on a frame around a large camphor tree in the courtyard. But a priest took the president's tablet, apparently to ensure it was not taken by a subsequent visitor to the shrine.
Twice a loud drum or gong sounded multiple beats.
The president's party then slowly walked down a road through the woods preceded by his limos and followed by a party of Secret Service and press.
The Beast limo incidentally sported Japanese license plates.
The party reached a wooded glade and climbed a viewing stand bearing the US and Japanese flags.
In front of the stand was a roped off trail on which archers in feudal kimonos galloped their horses, hands free, and rose in the saddle to fire arrows at two targets on poles about seven feet off the ground.
In a fine display of horsemanship and marksmanship, most of the competitors hit both targets.
Motorcade now heading back downtown.
Reported by Stephen Collinson of AFP as the White House Pool.
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(Background)
Meiji Shrine is the Shinto shrine that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. After the emperor’s death in 1912, the Japanese Diet passed a resolution to commemorate his role in the Meiji Restoration. An iris garden in an area of Tokyo where Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken had been known to visit was chosen as the building’s location.
Construction began in 1915 under Itō Chūta, and the shrine was built in the traditional nagare-zukuri style and is made up primarily of Japanese cypress and copper. It was formally dedicated in 1920, completed in 1921, and its grounds officially finished by 1926.
Until 1946, the Meiji Shrine was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha, meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines. The original building was destroyed during the Tokyo air raids of World War II. The present iteration of the shrine was funded through a public fund raising effort and completed in October, 1958.
In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her way to Meiji Shrine in advance of meetings with Japan’s leaders to show her “respect toward history and the culture of Japan.” In August 2011, Vice President Biden visited the shrine after visiting Tohoku, in the aftermath of the triple disaster of March that year. Prime Minister Koizumi hosted President George W. Bush at Meiji Shrine for a demonstration of yabusame (horseback archery) in February, 2002.
