Japanese Princess Ayako to Marry a Commoner Today

Japan’s Princess Ayako’s is finally marrying her longtime fiance Kei Moriya. After marrying Moriya, Ayako will renounce her royal status according to Japan’s imperial law. Kei Moriya works for a shipping company Nippon Yusen.

Marriage preparation started more than a week, last week Princess Ayako visited the shrine inside the Imperial Palace and participated in a ritual to bid farewell to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. The ritual involves a rite called Choken-no-gi, where the imperial couple exchanged sake cups and chopsticks with the princess.

Though by the ritual she is renouncing her royal status, now she will also be eligible to take a lump sum of $950,000 from the Japanese government for her living expenses.

On the marriage day, Princess Ayako will meet her husband to be at the Meiji Shrine. During arrival, she will wear an uchiki outer robe and hakama, the wide-legged pleated trousers that are tied at the waist. After the couple's meeting, the princess will change her dress to kouchiki, a small cloak with long, wide sleeves and a long divided skirt known as naga-bakama. These outfits are worn by Japanese nobility since the Heian era (794-1185).

After the wedding, next day, the newly-wed couple will attend the public reception at Tokyo’s New Otani Hotel in the presence of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, where Ayako will formally join the Moriya family.

Now all eyes are up for watching what Princess Ayako is going to choose as her wedding dress as compared to the clothes worn by other women of the royal family during their marriage. In such occasions, brides choose the highly elaborate junihitoe, which is a 12-layered kimono, which dates back to centuries.

Royal weddings generally spark fashion trends across the country. As during the royal wedding in Britain, Duchess of Sussex has inspired number of brides to choose dresses similar to her boat neck Givenchy gown and the high neck Stella McCartney dress, which she has worn during her wedding reception.

In Japan also when Princess Masako wore the traditional multi-layered kimono during her marriage to Crown Prince Naruhito in the year 1993, there was a rise in Japanese brides wearing junihitoe-style dresses. Now it is to be seen, how many of them would-be brides would choose the simple life of a commoner as Ayako did, apart from following her style.

Though she is not the first princess in her generation who has decided to leave the royal family. Last year Ayako’s second cousin and eldest grandchild of the Emperor, Princess Mako, announced her marriage to Kei Komoro, a commoner. Though they have postponed their marriage this February, saying that they are not ready for marriage now.