January 23, 2025
TOKYO – The annual ceremony of the Utakai Hajime, or the Imperial New Year’s Poetry Reading, took place in the Matsu-no-Ma room of the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on Wednesday morning.
The Emperor, the Empress and Crown Prince Akishino enter the Matsu-no-Ma room of the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on Wednesday, for the Utakai Hajime poetry reading ceremony for the New Year. PHOTO: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
“Yume” (dream) was this year’s theme for the tanka poems chanted at the ceremony, which included ones composed by the Emperor and the Empress as well as other members of the Imperial family.
The event also featured 10 poems by members of the public selected from 16,250 poems submitted from around Japan and overseas, as well as poems by the jury and by Japanese literature specialist Masako Mitamura, 76, who was invited to the ceremony by the Emperor.
Each poem was read out in a traditional style of poetry chanting.
Princess Aiko, 23, the daughter of the Emperor and the Empress, participated in the ceremony for the first time.
Here is the poem by the Emperor:
The children I met on my journeys
Talked with sparkling eyes
Of their dreams for the future
According to the Imperial Household Agency, the Emperor traveled to various places in the country last year, including making three visits to the Noto region in Ishikawa Prefecture, which was devastated last year by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake and a record heavy rain. Throughout his travels, the Emperor met many children who made him happy by speaking of their dreams in a lively manner. The Emperor expressed his delight in his poem.
The Empress’ poem:
Some thirty years after my departure
I visit with His Majesty
Our Alma Mater in Britain
And I recall the youthful dreams
I dreamt then
In June last year, the Empress, together with the Emperor, visited the University of Oxford in Britain for the first time in 34 years. The Empress studied at Oxford while she was working at the Foreign Ministry. Apparently, the visit was a touching experience for the Empress, who recalled fond memories and her dreams of younger days.
Princess Aiko’s poem:
Princess Aiko is seen at the Utakai Hajime poetry reading ceremony at the Imperial Palace on Wednesday. PHOTO: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
Until the day we meet again
My friends and I will
Each follow our dreams
Last spring, Princess Aiko graduated from Gakushuin University and started working at the Japanese Red Cross Society. Her poem expresses her wish for a reunion someday with her friends who graduated with her, as they all work toward their dreams.
In the past, the ceremony took place before an audience of about 100 people, but the agency reduced the number to about five when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Since 2023, the agency has gradually increased the number, and admitted about 40 people this year.