Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 30, 1990 TAG: 9006300175
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB DEANS COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: TOKYO LENGTH: Medium
Kiko Kawashima left her parents' four-room apartment at 6:30 a.m. dressed in pink, and before noon had stepped into the world's oldest imperial dynasty wrapped in 30 pounds of shimmering silk.
Her marriage to Prince Aya, second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne, returned the glow of romance and the promise of renewal to a royal family that only months ago ended mourning for its late aged patriarch, Emperor Hirohito. He died 18 months ago at the age of 88 after 62 years on the throne.
For the 125 million Japanese who live beyond the palace gates, the graceful and engaging "Kiko-san," as the princess is affectionately known, has become the stuff of schoolgirls' dreams.
"People say she must smile even in her sleep," gushed a young Japanese woman, eyeing a newspaper photo of the beaming bride bidding her silver-haired father a tender farewell.
After five years of courtship, a nod of unanimous approval from the stodgy Imperial Household Council and months of training in royal ways, Kawashima became Princess Akashino Friday morning when she sipped sacred rice wine with her betrothed inside an imperial Shinto shrine.
Among the 120-some invited guests was Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, who watched from outside the wooden shrine while the prince honored his mythical ancient ancestor, Amaterasu, the sun goddess.
The daughter of an economics professor, the 23-year-old princess is reported here to be the second woman in history without royal blood to marry into an imperial line that has given Japan 125 emperors reaching back more than 1,600 years.
In keeping with tradition, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko didn't attend the wedding ceremony, but were officially informed of the marriage shortly after 3 p.m. in a formal appearance at the imperial palace.
Wearing a diamond tiara with matching necklace and earrings, the princess bowed deeply with her husband before the imperial couple, and the prince, 24, announced solemnly that he had taken a wife.
Local press reports put the price tag for Friday's wedding at $1.1 million. That included $230,000 for the elaborate multi-layered wedding kimono that took the princess two hours to don and, judging from the strain in her face, all the strength she could muster to carry.
Mobility was further impaired by a weighty wig attached to heavily waxed hair to turn the bride's shoulder-length hair into a black ponytail that trailed nearly down to the floor.
Still, the princess moved with the fluid rhythms she'd rehearsed in classes at the imperial household, where she's been tutored in classical Japanese poetry, calligraphy, customs and history since her engagement was officially announced last January.
To an institution that often seems stultified by rigidity and form, the new royal couple has brought much welcomed warmth and zest.
"It's a real fairy-tale story," said Fionna Bonham-Carter Egerton-Warbuton, a British resident here who was in London for her own country's past two royal weddings.
by CNB