好英语网日本德仁天皇正式登基，典礼看点回顾
TOKYO — Six months ago, Naruhito, the new emperor of Japan, received a sword, a jewel and official seals in a sacred ceremony that heralded his succession to the throne after his father, Akihito, became the first emperor to abdicate in more than 200 years.
东京——六个月前，在一个宣布继位的神圣仪式上，日本新天皇德仁收到了一把剑、一块宝石和几枚官印。他的父亲明仁成为200多年来第一个退位的天皇。
It turns out that was only a prelude.
原来那只是个序曲。
On Tuesday, Naruhito, 59, took part in another enthronement ceremony — one in which he formally declared his ascension to the world’s oldest monarchy — and this time he actually got to sit on a really big throne.
周二，现年59岁的德仁参加了另一个登基仪式，他在这个仪式上正式宣布自己登上了世界最古老的君主制的宝座，而且这次他真的坐在了一个非常大的宝座上。
周二，天皇德仁和皇后雅子在东京皇宫的宝座上。
Also this time: The empress, Masako, Naruhito’s wife of 26 years, was in the room. In May, Masako, 55, was not allowed to attend the ascension ceremony, in part because Imperial Household law prohibits women from succeeding to the throne.这次，与德仁结婚已26年的皇后雅子也在场。现年55岁的雅子不可以出席今年5月的仪式，部分原因是《皇室典范》禁止女性继承皇位。
Why the long gap between ceremonies? A new emperor usually takes the throne after his predecessor dies. A short ceremony is quickly arranged, and a bigger event — the one held Tuesday — follows some time later. (When Naruhito’s father, Akihito, took the throne, he waited a full year after the death of his father, Hirohito, the wartime emperor.)
为什么这两个仪式之间有这么长的时间间隔？新天皇通常是在前任死后继承皇位，一个简短仪式迅速安排妥当，更大的仪式（比如周二的）则要等一段时间才举行。（德仁的父亲明仁登上皇位时，在他的父亲、战时天皇裕仁去世后等了整整一年才举行登基大典。）
The second ceremony is designed in part to proclaim the new emperor before the rest of the world. Watching from nearby observation rooms in the Imperial Palace on Tuesday were dignitaries from 183 countries, including Prince Charles of Britain; King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands; Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader of Myanmar; President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines (who cut his trip short due to back pain); Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong; and Elaine Chao, the United States transportation secretary. (At the enthronement of Naruhito’s father, Vice President Dan Quayle represented the United States.)
登基大典的部分目的，是向世界宣告新天皇。周二，来自183个国家和地区的达官显贵从皇宫观察室近距离观看了仪式，其中包括英国的查尔斯王储、荷兰的威廉-亚历山大国王和马克西玛王后、缅甸平民领导人昂山素季(Aung San Suu Kyi)，菲律宾总统罗德里戈·杜特地(Rodrigo Duterte)——由于背部疼痛他缩短了自己的行程、香港特别行政区行政长官林郑月娥，以及美国交通部长赵小兰。（在德仁父亲的登基大典上，时任副总统丹·奎尔[Dan Quayle]曾代表美国出席。）
Despite the considerable pomp and a series of banquets that were to continue through the evening, the government decided to postpone a celebratory parade through the streets of Tokyo in deference to the victims of Typhoon Hagibis, which killed at least 80 people this month.
虽然大典排场不小，而且一系列的宴会将持续到晚上，但政府还是决定推迟在东京街头举行的庆祝游行，以表示对台风海贝思罹难者的尊重。本月在日本登陆的这个台风已造成至少80人死亡。
The parade is now scheduled for Nov. 10. Four days later, yet another ceremony will be held, a mysterious affair in which the emperor may or may not have conjugal relations with a goddess.
目前，庆祝游行已改在11月10日举行。四天后，还将举行另一个仪式，天皇在这个神秘仪式上可能会与一位女神敦伦，也可能不会。
Game of Thrones
宝座游戏
The most visible royal paraphernalia in Tuesday’s ceremony were the two thrones for the emperor and empress, made more than 100 years ago.
在周二的仪式上，最显眼的皇室物品是100多年前制造的天皇和皇后的宝座。
The thrones — known as the takamikura for the emperor, and the michodai for the empress — are usually stored at the Kyoto Imperial Palace, where the royal family ruled until the mid-19th century.
天皇的宝座叫“高御座”，皇后的宝座叫“御帐台”，它们通常存放在京都的皇宫，皇室家族曾从那里统治日本，直到19世纪中叶。
Each throne is made of thousands of small wood parts. In preparation for Tuesday’s ceremony, the thrones were disassembled more than a year ago and shipped in trucks to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Craftsmen reconstructed them and touched up their lacquer coating.
每个宝座都是由几千块木头拼装出来的。为了准备周二的仪式，这两个宝座已在一年多前被拆开，然后用卡车运到了东京的皇宫。工匠们已将它们重新组装起来，并对上面的油漆进行了修补。
For the ceremony, the thrones sat in a stateroom on canopied podiums more than four feet off the wooden floor.
举行仪式时，这两个宝座放置于皇宫正殿高出地板一米多的基座上，每个宝座有自己的遮蓬。
Including the podium height, Naruhito’s throne, which had vermilion handrails, was about 21 feet high. The throne for Masako (who is taller than her husband) was nearly 19 feet high.
德仁的宝座有红漆扶手，包括基座在内高约6.5米。雅子（她比丈夫的个子高）的宝座高约5.7米。
When the imperial couple first entered the stateroom — the emperor went first — they were seated on the podiums, hidden from view behind curtains made of purple silk with scarlet lining.
当天皇夫妇——天皇走在前面——首次进入正殿时，他们从基座后面入座，藏身于外面是紫色丝绸、里面是红色衬里的遮蓬后面。
The few other people in the room were members of the imperial family, court chamberlains, ladies-in-waiting, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, leaders of the two houses of Parliament and the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Everybody else — including reporters — watched from other rooms.
正殿里还有少数其他人，包括皇室成员、皇宫内侍和宫女、首相安倍晋三、国会两院领袖，以及最高法院首席大法官。包括记者在内的所有其他人都从别的房间里观看。
Chamberlains brought out the imperial regalia again, placing the sword, jewel and official seals on tables to the right and left of the emperor.
皇宫内侍把象征皇权的特殊物品再次拿出来，把那把剑、宝石和官印放在天皇左右两边的桌子上。
At the sound of a gong, a chamberlain and a lady-in-waiting opened the curtains, revealing the emperor and empress.
一声锣响后，皇宫内侍和宫女将遮蓬拉开，让人们一睹天皇和皇后的尊容。
The Weight of the World
全世界的重量
Naruhito appeared in a silk orange robe and a crown. Some reports say the robe was dyed with the juice of sumac berries, but others say it was merely a chemical dye. In any case, the color is meant to symbolize the orange hue of the sun when it reaches its highest point in the sky — Japan, after all, is the Land of the Rising Sun.
德仁穿着一件橙色丝质长袍，头戴皇冠。一些报道称长袍是用漆树莓的汁液染的色，但另一些报道则称颜色只不过来自一种化学染料。无论如何，这种颜色意在象征太阳在天空最高点时的橙色色调——毕竟，日本的意思是太阳升起之地。
Masako wore a multilayered kimono, in a design that dates to the 10th century and is known as itsutsuginu karaginu mo. The layers of cloth weighed close to 35 pounds. She also wore a wig in an elaborate hairstyle that looked like stiff wings or large Mickey Mouse ears growing from the side of her head.
雅子穿着一件被称为“五衣唐衣裳”（又称“十二单”）的多层和服，其设计可追溯到10世纪，多层和服的总重量约15公斤。她还戴着一个精心设计的假发，发型看起来好像是她头上长出了僵硬的翅膀或米老鼠的大耳朵。
To Banzai or Not to Banzai
要不要三呼万岁
After the curtains opened on the thrones, the guests bowed to the emperor (although foreign dignitaries had been told they did not have to bow unless they chose to.)
宝座的遮蓬拉开后，在场的人向天皇鞠躬（不过，外国政要被告知，他们不一定要鞠躬，除非他们选择那样做）。
In a formal address, the emperor pledged to always wish “for the happiness of the people and the peace of the world, turning my thoughts to the people and standing by them.”
天皇在官方讲话中承诺，永远祈求“国民幸福和世界和平，关爱国民，站在国民一边”。
Mr. Abe echoed the emperor’s sentiments, calling for “utmost efforts to create a peaceful, bright future full of hope for Japan.”
安倍晋三回应了天皇的观点，表示要“尽最大努力创造一个和平、光明的、让日本充满希望的未来”。
The prime minister, as is the custom, led the audience in three cheers of “Banzai!” — literally, “Ten thousand years!”
按照惯例，首相带领在场的人三呼“万岁！”
As the prime minister shouted the first syllable of the first cheer, Japanese soldiers — signaled by a wireless command — fired off 105-millimeter howitzers in Kitanomaru Park, about half a mile from the palace.
当首相刚呼出“万”字时，距离皇宫约800米的北之丸公园里的日本士兵得到了无线电发来的信号，用口径105毫米的榴弹炮开始鸣放礼炮。
Critics say these cheers (again, foreigners could abstain), led as they were by the prime minister standing below the emperor on his podium, may violate Japan’s Constitution, which states that the emperor is “the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people, deriving his position from the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power.”
批评者说，首相站在天皇宝座基座下面，带头三呼“万岁”的做法可能违反了日本宪法，宪法说，天皇“是日本国民整体的象征，其地位以主权所在的全体日本国民的意志为依据”。（外国人再次被告知可以不呼。）
But That’s Not All
但这还不是全部仪式
Now, things get really interesting.
接下来要发生的才是真正有意思的事情。
On the night of Nov. 14, the emperor will take part in another ceremony: a secret ritual, known as the daijosai, that occurs inside two of a series of temporary wooden buildings erected just for the occasion in the east gardens of the Imperial Palace.
11月14日晚，天皇将参加另一个仪式，这个名为“大尝祭”的秘密仪式将在皇宫东花园里专门为仪式搭建的两处系列临时木结构建筑内举行。
Nobody knows for sure what happens during the rites, which have roots in Shinto, Japan’s indigenous religion. The emperor is said to offer rice and other specially prepared foods to Amaterasu Omikami, the sun goddess from whom all emperors, according to legend, are descended.
没有人确切知道这个仪式上发生的事情，它起源于日本本土宗教神道教。据说，天皇会在仪式上向天照大神(Amaterasu Omikami)供奉大米和其他专门准备的食物。根据传说，所有的天皇都是天照大神的后裔。
In part of the ceremony, the emperor enters an inner sanctuary accompanied only by two ladies-in-waiting. Analysts and Shinto ritualists have offered different speculation about what, exactly, Naruhito will do in there while 1,000 guests wait outside.
在仪式的一个部分，天皇在只有两个侍女的陪同进入一个内部圣所。分析人士和熟悉神道教仪式的人对德仁将在那里做什么有不同的猜测，那时还有1000名客人在外面等候。
There is a bed inside, so some say the emperor lies down with his ancestors and enters into spiritual communion with the gods. Others say he actually becomes a god (though the emperor’s godlike status was annulled by the Americans after World War II). Another theory holds that he has a conjugal visit with the sun goddess.
圣所里有一张床，所以有些人说，天皇将与他的祖先在精神上躺在一起，领受神的圣体。还有些人说，他实际上在那里变成了神（尽管天皇的神性已在第二次世界大战后被美国人废除了）。另一种理论则认为，他在那里与太阳女神敦伦。
What bothers some critics is that about 2.1 billion yen — or more than $19 million — in taxpayer funds is spent on a religious ceremony.
令一些批评人士不安的是，一个宗教仪式花掉了纳税人大约21亿日元（约合1900多万美元）的钱。
For now, the criticism is tempered in part by the fact that the imperial family remains beloved in Japan. But in the longer term, the imperial household faces a more existential threat. It is running out of heirs.
就目前而言，批评的声音仍比较温和，这部分是因为皇室在日本仍受人爱戴。但从长期来看，日本皇室面临着一个更大的生存威胁。皇室的继承人不多了。
After the current emperor, his only successors are his 53-year-old brother, Akishino, and Akishino’s son, the 13-year-old Hisahito. Naruhito’s 83-year-old uncle, Hitachi, is also technically in line.
在现任天皇之后，继承人只剩下他53岁的弟弟文仁亲王和文仁亲王13岁的儿子悠仁亲王。德仁83岁的叔叔正仁亲王严格来说也是继承人。
Unless the Imperial Household Law is revised to admit women as heirs to the throne, the teenage Hisahito could be the end of the line, and debates over the validity of enthronement ceremonies and their cost could be moot.
除非修订《皇室典范》，允许女性继承皇位，否则十几岁的小悠仁可能会是最后一位皇位继承人，而关于登基仪式是否符合宪法以及费用的争论也可能会变得毫无意义。