Aloha!
Welcome!
Honored Guests:Japan's Emperor Akihito and wife Empress Michiko
“Oh while I live, to be the ruler of life, not a slave, to meet life as a powerful conqueror, and nothing exterior to me will ever take command of me.”
Walt Whitman
No Shadows!"Whatever you are, be a good one."
Abraham Lincoln
Blooming in Manoa Valley
“If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?”
Kahlil Gibran
A Lovely Shower Tree
Abraham Lincoln
Blooming in Manoa Valley“If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?”
Kahlil Gibran
A Lovely Shower TreeHe planted the tree in 1960.
He was a taller, younger man then.
Yesterday they drove him and his wife directly from the airplane to visit the tree. It had grown tall in the 40 plus years, and it waited, blooming as if in welcome - for it is July in Honolulu.
The visit to the tree would be his only public event.
School children, and reverential seniors made up most of the crowd, waiting patiently. Most held small US and Japanese flags. The children were from a Japanese Language school here in town. The seniors remembered years of hard work, years of war, years of life's struggles. But today their faces glowed.
The children were learning their family culture - the seniors had lived it. They all wanted to see and to honor the world's only remaining Emperor: Akihito of Japan and his Empress Michiko.
The emperor walked over to where the children waited and spoke to them quietly in Nihongo, the Japanese language that they study. Until MacArthur ruled in Tokyo this man's father and predecessors were considered living Shinto Deities. To receive a medal, a letter, or to be in his presence, was believed to convey a tangible "blessing" or "initiation" similar to those bestowed by Shinto Priests in their magical nature ceremonies. Free of temporal power, the imperial couple now bestows their blessings purely on a basis of heart and spirit.
A child may think of a ruler as able to live according to royal whim, but it seems that these guests of ours live a life of service to others, to an ideal. Protected, feted & honored, they are not free as you and I are simply to stroll unmolested on the beach here at Waikiki but must see it beyond a velvet rope.
All Hawaii seems touched to host these very special guests. They remind us who we are and where many of us came from; that there is more to life than practicality.
As King Canute showed many ages ago, a sovereign's power is limited. He may not order the surf to recede. But the bonds of love, and the tides of gene & blood, flow undimmed even in our 21st Century.
Today was Lahaina Noon here in Honolulu. Twice a year the noonday sun stands directly above, casting no shadow anywhere. In another fifty years, or a hundred, you, me and the Emperor will reside only inside history.
But Lahaina Noon will revisit on it's appointed day, and the shower tree at Kapiolani Park might still be blooming away the Summer.
Perhaps a grandma or grandma will tell their keiki (kid/kids): "That's where I met an Emperor when I was your age."
Yes, these are the good days. May we live them to the full!
Aloha my Friends! Cloudia
29 comments:
Good days indeed, at the moment.
I never knew that about the sun.
Welcome, Royal Couple.
Everybody is the emperor but everybody is not the emperor till the good heart exist within.
I feel so sorry for them. The years have been very difficult for both of them. I love how gracious and gentle they both are. They really broke a LOT of traditions. Akihito was the first crown prince to choose his own wife. He and Michiko sama also raised their own children which was unheard of at the time. Young Princess Michiko did not want to give up her children to be raised by the palace people. That's what you get when you marry a commoner. Love.
lOVELY post and lovely blog. Thank you for being such a faithful follower of my blog. When I get home from France I promise to be a better blog buddy!
V
MacArthur is gone, the US rule of Japan is over but the Dynastic line lives on. I doubt that fiat ever stopped the emperor from being able to not be able to bestow the Shinto blessings by being near his presence.
Seems to me Hawaii has been touched by his presence. *shrug* I'll let you all decide whether his being there blessed you all or not.
Right on Walt the Whitman.
absolutely!
a lovely post with magnificent images and quotes!
namaste /\
aloha!
Thanks for sharing that. Those are wonderful photos. That public event at the tree touched my heart. Exquisite. Thanks for the insight into the royal life.
That is something that i would have liked to see.
A graceful bow of respect, and aloha.
Lovely post, Cloudia. I appreciated all the information. What you say about the limitations on Japanese royalty is really true. I read a book once about the education of Japan's crown prince. Every minute of every day from the time he was 8 was planned and scheduled to mold him into a wise ruler. Even his time with his mother and siblings was limited. And not you say that in previous generations, they didn't even have that time. Wow!
What a terrific post. I hadn't looked at royalty quite this way. Thanks for explaining it to us.
Have a terrific day. :)
Great post Cloudia. Beautiful couple-- very royal looking. I've never heard of a shower tree but it is stunning.
Love the shower tree.
and yes, a ruler's world isn't as free as many of us imagine it to be. There are quite a few restraints I would imagine.
What a very stylish lady. How they have lightened up in the last fifty years - so that now the Emperor and his wife can themselves enjoy their visits abroad.
Lovely looking couple, and I enjoyed all the history.
How wonderful it must be to visit a tree you planted 40 years ago!
Hope you're feeling better now my lovely. x
Cloudia, you live in paradise! What a well constructed, wonderfully written blog. Kay made some good points about the royal couple. It just shows, looking from the outside in, we make assumptions. Being ROYAL may not be all it's cracked up to be. It would be far better to my way of thinking to frolic on those beautiful shadowless beaches with the commoners.
Dina: Only in the tropics, my sister.
Hobo: Yes!
Kay: How lovely! Thank you, neighbor.
Bonjour, Virginia! Thank you.
Right on, Walking Man.
Magic Eye: Namaste friend!
Sandy: Warm aloha, dear.
Mike G: Thank you for your visit. Please return to see what's goin` on again soon.
Eric: How perfect!
Nihau, Dear Teresa!
Sandee: Everything you do makes me smile.
Dear Tricia! (Tomorrow's post has a wee surprise...shhhh)
Indeed, sir Charles ;-)
Weaver: Aren;t they just! Fine looking couple indeed. Welcome.
Deborah: I enjoy you!
Ake: Yes, thanks. My REIKI self treatment and your distant ones have me all but perfect! Mahalo my friend (swing around tomorrow for a surprise - you usually do ;-)
Elizabeth: Thank you for your generous comments. I'd enjoy frolic-ing on a shadowless beach with you on any Lahaina Noon!
Wow! Thanks you guys!!!
This post gave me a series of goosebumps. You are well connected, Cloudia, to those above.
sweet yet thoughtprovoking
What a lovely post, so warm and heartfelt.
My son lives in Japan, has been living there since 1991. My grandson is of American-Japanese heritage.
Barbara: YOU just gave me goosebumps! (we call them 'chicken skin')
Thank you very much for saying that.
JewWishes:
Lovely grandchildren! The Japanese honor the Jewish people for the assistance given to win the Russo-Japanese war......
Shalom Friend
Nice, Cloudia
Thanks Free & EZ
Hey my friend, hope I did not freak you out too badly yesterday. ;) Surfs up, lets grab a cold one and watch the idiots wipe out, you and me.
Yeah, I figured it is only in the tropics. Like so many other things.
Do you ever get fish rain like they did in Japan:
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/06/tadpole-rain-japan-pics/
Hey, Bama ;-)
Dina: Fish rain, with our sea storms and plenty of fish we should but I can't remember any....
I never knew that about the sun. Very interesting, and what a joy and blessing to have them there visit!
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