Empress Michiko Taking Care of Silkworms by Wan Li, 134 x165cm, Oil on Canvas, 2020

      “亲蚕之礼”始于周代，由皇后主持、率领众嫔妃祭拜“蚕神”嫘祖，采桑喂蚕。按《周礼》，皇后率领内外命妇春季始蚕于北郊，以为祭服。皇帝去天坛地坛拜祭农神祈求风调雨顺，而皇后则要在先蚕坛举行“亲蚕”大典。

      公元195年，秦始皇第11代后人“功满王”东渡日本，向仲哀天皇献上了珍贵的蚕种，日本开始养蚕。《日本书纪》记载：雄略天皇引导皇后“采桑养蚕”。明治以后亲蚕礼得到振兴，每年3月28日，忌宫神社都会举办规模盛大的“蚕种祭”，纪念蚕种东渡及养蚕业对日本的贡献。

      此油画展现的便是美智子皇后在皇宫红叶山养蚕所养蚕的情景。明仁天皇在位期间，美智子皇后在养蚕所饲养了10多万条蚕。自“亲蚕礼”仪式开始的那一天起，接下来的两个月里，皇后每日需前往养蚕所，挑选蚕食并亲自喂食，直到这些蚕健康成长后结茧吐丝。而后皇后将和工作人员一起参与各种收获工作，将蚕丝和织锦用于修复文物古籍等。自8世纪以来皇室在奈良正仓院保存的文物，赠送贵宾的礼品等，也一直在使用养蚕所的蚕丝作为材料。

   The “Silkworm Worship Ceremony” began in the Zhou Dynasty, when the Empress led the royal concubines to worship Leizu, the goddess of silkworms, collecting mulberry and feeding the silkworms. According to the Rites of the Zhou Dynasty, the Empress led the noble women inside and outside the court to start the sericulture in the northern suburbs in spring to make robes worn for religious rites. The Emperor went to the Temple of Heaven and the Temple Earth to worship the gods of agriculture and pray for good weather and rain, while the Empress had to hold a Silkworm Worship Ceremony at the Altar of the Goddess of Silkworms.

   In 195 A.D., the 11th generation descendant of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, Prince Gongman, crossed over to Japan and presented Emperor Chuai with valuable silkworm seeds, and then sericulture began in Japan. According to Nihon Shoki, “Emperor Yuryaku guided the Empress to ‘pick mulberry and raise silkworms’”. Every year on the 28th of March, a large-scale “Silkworm Farming Festival” will be celebrated in the Iminomiya Shrine to commemorate the eastern migration of silkworm farming across the vast sea and the contribution of silkworm farming to Japan.

   This painting shows Empress Michiko raising silkworms at the Imperial Palace’s Momijiyama Imperial Cocoonery. During the reign of Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko raised more than 100,000 silkworms in the Cocoonery. From the day when the Silkworm Worship Ceremony was held, Empress Michiko went to the Cocoonery every day for the next two months to select and feed the silkworms until they were healthy enough to make cocoons and produce silk. The Empress was then involved in various harvesting tasks with the staff, using the silk and brocade for the restoration of artefacts and ancient books among others. Silk from the Cocoonery has been used as a material for the imperial family’s artefacts preserved at the Shosoin Repository since the 8th century, as well as for gifts presented to distinguished guests.

“文化互译，沟通世界”