(1.) On the first day of the New Year [February the 11th, 1869] the Emperor worships the Gods of the Four Points of the Compass, and on this occasion His Majesty in the Court of the Hall called Seiriyo Den does homage before the Gods of Heaven and Earth and prays for a prosperous year and long life. He also in the same place prays to the tombs of his ancestors. The Court performs _Go Sekkai_ (similar acts of worship). A proclamation announces to the Princes assembled at Kiōto that these acts of worship will take place, and on the second day will take place the ceremony of the worship of Haku Ba[14] (“the white horse”) by the Court. On the third day dancing and singing by the officers of the Court. The Princes may be present on these four days at their convenience. On the second the Mikado partakes of the food called _Ō-yukago Gozen_. On the second cups of wine are presented to the Ministers of State and on the third to various officials, and on the latter day the whole of the Daimios present at Kiōto receive fans from the Emperor. (2.) On the fourth day the Ministers of State assemble on the middle and second stages of the Ko-gosho (small hall of audience), and the Hoshō (Prime Minister) reads out the imperial address—a patriotic document. (3.) On the twelfth day there will be Kagura dances in honour of the _Kami_ (gods of the country), and on the thirteenth day there will be Kagura in honour of the Imperial change of residence to Yedo. Together with these dances there will be Shintō services from the night of the tenth day until the morning of the fourteenth. Persons in mourning, Buddhist priests and nuns will not attend on these occasions. Regulations for the presentation of wedding gifts of a sword and box of dried fish to the Emperor from the various Princes; the Empress Mother and the Empress receiving only dried fish. (4.) 5th day. The dance called Senshiu Banzai—“a thousand autumns and ten thousand years.” The murder of the Minister of State, Yokoi Heishirō, on his return from Court. The Emperor addresses him a letter of inquiry. (He had been killed on the spot and his head carried off by the murderers, so it was a post-mortem compliment.) (5.) 7th day. The ceremonies of Haku Ba, “the white horse.” This is a ceremony in honour of spring. Although the Chinese characters for “white horse” are used, “Hakuba” should be pronounced “Aoma”—“the black horse.” In the book “Kuji Kongen,” the following explanation is given: “If on the 7th day of the 1st month, a person should see a black horse it is said that pestilential vapours will not affect him during that year.” The Emperor Nimmei or Nimmiyo (A.D. 834-850) is said to have seen a black horse on that day in the part of the palace called Horaku Den, “the hall of abundance and happiness.”