Japan state carriages

Emperor Meiji in a carriage, 19th century

Japan state carriages are horse-drawn coaches. The carriages are used in Imperial events.

The carriages are in regular use. For example, during the presentation of credentials of a newly appointed ambassador, it sometimes happens that the ambassador will be driven to the south portico of the Imperial Palace in a horse-drawn carriage. The carriages called zagyoshiki are drawn by two horses

A few carriages are only used rarely. For example, some state carriages are part of ceremonies of enthronement and the marriages of members of the Imperial Family.

History

Probably sometime during the 1860s the M.L.Hermans & Co. Factory from The Hague, Netherlands, delivered a decorated state coach to the Imperial Court. Hermans earned fame at the time with the making of coaches for several European courts, but mainly as the builder of the Golden Coach (Kyai Garuda Kencana) for the Emperor of Surakarta (Solo) in Java.

In December 1923, there was an assassination attempt on the life of Crown Prince Hirohito. He was in a carriage on his way to the opening of the 48th Session of the Imperial Diet. A small pistol was fired at the Imperial carriage. The bullet injured a chamberlain, but Hirohito was unharmed.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Imperial Household Agency (Kuunaichō), "Traditional Horsemanship in Japan; Horse-drawn Carriage Procession on the Occasion of the Ceremony of the Presentation of Credentials" Archived 2011-06-05 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-7-2.
  2. ↑ Kuunaichō, "Procession of horse-drawn carriages at the Ceremony of the Presentation of Credentials"; retrieved 2012-7-3.
  3. ↑ Gram, Johan (1893), 's Gravenhage in onzen tijd, Den Haag: J.L. Beijers, 94.
  4. ↑ Bix, Herbert B. (2001). Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, pp. 140-141.

Other websites

Media related to Imperial Ceremonial Horse-Drawn Carriages of Japan at Wikimedia Commons