Ancient Rites Unite Prince, Ex-Diplomat : Japan: Wine, bow to goddess seal union of Naruhito and bride.

With a sip of sacred sake and a bow to Japan’s sun goddess, Crown Prince Naruhito and former diplomat Masako Owada were wed today, ushering in the next generation of the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy.

Clad in ancient court costumes--Naruhito in flaming orange silk and Owada in a long hairpiece and multihued 12-layer ceremonial kimono--the pair knelt before Amaterasu, Japan’s mythical matriarch, in the Imperial Sanctuary on the palace grounds. There, hidden from public view, Naruhito read a matrimonial pledge and asked for the goddess’ protection.

The 15-minute ceremony concluded, the pair presented themselves outside to 800 Japanese guests ranging from relatives to Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, marking the formal beginning of their new life together.

“Japan now has a new crown princess,” announced NHK, the public television network.

In separate ceremonies, they also reported their marriage to the souls of imperial ancestors and the current emperor and empress.

A motorcade from the Imperial Palace to the newlyweds’ new residence on the Akasaka Palace grounds, featuring the royal couple dressed in Western formal wear in an open car, was to be the day’s public highlight, but gray skies and a steady drizzle that began in the early morning literally threatened to rain on the parade.

More than 30,000 security police stood by to fend off threatened attacks from left-wing opponents of the imperial system.

The couple was to cap the day’s formalities with a nighttime ceremony called Miyako no Mochi to pray for the birth of a healthy prince. Small rice cakes, 29 in all to signify each year of Owada’s life, are placed in a rosewood box on four silver trays and kept in the bedroom for three days. On the fourth day, the box will be buried.

The royal wedding, Japan’s biggest social bash in the 34 years since the marriage of the current emperor, caps months of preparation involving thousands of people and tens of millions of dollars. It brings to a happy end the quiet consternation that had been building within the imperial household over whether the pleasant but stolid Naruhito would ever find a bride. At age 33, he was seriously behind his father’s wedding age of 25 and his grandfather’s of 22.

But Naruhito did find her: Owada, a career diplomat raised in Japan, the United States and Russia, speaker of five languages and holder of academic degrees from Harvard, Oxford and Tokyo University.

Although her selection as crown princess raised eyebrows among both nationalists, who found her too modern, and liberals, who thought she was selling out to join an outmoded institution, the majority of Japanese seemed to applaud the choice as a fitting symbol and role model for the 21st Century.

Indeed, despite today’s ancient court costumes and traditional Shinto rites, the royal pair is likely to put a decidedly modern stamp on the imperial institution. The crown prince is the 126th heir to the 2,600-year Chrysanthemum Throne, which includes a thousand years of mythology, and he is the first to be raised by his own mother and schooled with commoners. The crown princess is the first to have had her own career. Together, the couple is expected to open up the cloistered court and bring it closer to common folk in Japan and around the world.

Naruhito probably viewed the internationalist Owada as a strong ally for his own desire to demystify the imperial institution, which he openly spoke about after his study abroad at Oxford. Since their engagement, the two have signaled their intention to bring a greater variety of people into the imperial orbit, hobnobbing together with old school chums and frequently inviting her relatives to the palace, practices one Japanese newspaper called “unimaginable.”

A Yomiuri newspaper poll released today showed that 54.1% of 2,124 respondents surveyed expected the pair primarily to travel abroad and strengthen foreign relations, compared to only 18% who wanted them to preserve Japanese tradition and culture. Despite the paper’s conservative bent, it also said in an editorial that “current times demand that the imperial family be familiar to and open to the public,” and it urged the pair to “play an active role in imperial diplomacy on the international scene.”

The day’s formalities began at 6:30 a.m., when members of the Imperial Household Agency went to Owada’s concrete, two-story Tokyo home to escort her to the palace by motorcade. As spectators lined the street with umbrellas and Japan’s red-sun flag, Owada stepped out in a light blue two-piece silk outfit with a matching pillbox hat.

There, she said her goodbys to her parents, Hisashi and Yumiko, and her two younger twin sisters, Setsuko and Reiko. Her sisters wiped tears from their eyes, but Owada kept up a smiling face, bowing and exchanging words with her mother. Just before stepping into a car, she was brought a single pink rose and her pet Yorkshire terrier, Chocolate. Owada faced her dog and smiled.

“I’m sure Chocolate also had very complex feelings,” said one commentator for TV Asahi.

At the palace, Owada began a ceremony to purify herself with special water and the arduous process of putting on the 30-pound ceremonial kimono dating back to the 9th-Century Heian period.

The crown prince left his residence at about 9:06 a.m. for the palace. Carrying gloves and a black silk hat, Naruhito wore a black morning coat, striped gray trousers and, TV commentators noted, “a quiet and refreshing expression.”

With every single movement scripted in advance, the day held few surprises, and TV commentators seemed hard-pressed to find much to say. To fill the periods of dead time, scenes of Owada’s departure from her house were endlessly replayed, along with canned footage of the couple’s lives and explanations of the obscure Shinto rites.

To win the ratings wars, Japan’s TV networks brought in a host of wedding commentators and congratulators. Fuji Television may have scored the biggest coup by booking actress Brooke Shields, whom the prince supposedly had a crush on and has invited to the palace.

Other guests included Gin-san and Kin-san, a pair of wizened 100-year-old celebrity twins, and sumo heartthrobs Takanohana and Wakanohana weighing in live from Hawaii.

The Royal Couple (Southland Edition)

* Groom: Prince Naruhito, 33, heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne

* Bride: Masako Owada, 29, a former diplomat

* Wedding site: Imperial Palace

* Post-wedding parade: 2.5 miles through downtown Tokyo

* Royal duties: First, to produce a next-generation heir to the throne. It has to be a male child. As Emperor Akihito’s eldest son, Naruhito will eventually take the throne. The emperor’s role is largely ceremonial. By law, emperors may not abdicate.

* The family fortune: The vast personal wealth of the Japanese emperor was confiscated at the end of World War II. Since then the family has relied on government funding to cover expenses.