THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1912. THE LATE EMPEROR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10710, 4 November 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1912. THE LATE EMPEROR.

The people of New Zealand are more or less interested in the doings of the East. The description of the funeral j of the late Emperor makes picturesque I reading. The Morning Post's correspondent says that "all language fails to portray any adequate impression" of >a scene "so simple and severe, yet »o imposing, so appropriate, and & unique." While the Oriental loye of colour and mystery was emphasised, "of lavish pomp and pagan grostesquery there was none. The description sent by cable gave a good general idea of the pageant, hut naturally some interesting details had to be ■omitted. The luige funeral car wasI constructed by a Kyoto family of carpenters, who for centuries havo made similar cars for their Emperors. It was mentioned in the cable message that the wheels were so constructed as to make seven distinct creaking sounds as they revolved, but not that j the production of this peculiar effect was the exclusive secret of this family of hereditary undertakers. The five oxen that drew the car had been specially chosen to accord with the colours associated from ancient times with Imperial obsequies, the- shaft ox being black and white with white fore legs, and others being in pairs of brown and black and white. According to ancient custom the Junior Fifth grade of Court, rank should have boon 'bestowed on the boasts, but this w.is not done, though the animals were to bo ■pensioned off and maintained in the Imperial pastures until their death. The late Emperor's grave is one on the summit of a hill on one of the Imperial estates. The hill has been regarded as the abode of gods, and the enormous fir trees have not been touched for centuries. The fifty yards between the specially built funeral shrine and the grave was so steep that a wire cable railway was constructed to pull the coffin to tho top. Tn pursuance of an old custom.

there wore, placed in the four comers of the grave day figures, about eighteen inches in height, known as "God Generals." which were chad in miniature suits of ancient armour, the whole- being enclosed in boxes ot hinoki wood. Directly after the burial the palanquin on which the coffin wis borne was burned, and next day there was a special service at which the ashes were buried within the mausoleum compound. The ox-eir used in Tokio was also burned, and the nshes 1 buried in the Palace, precincts. Even \ the mortuary carriage of the funeral train was dismantled and everything except the metal-work burned.