Princess Sayako walks to the Kashikodokoro shrine in the Imperial Palace. (Photo courtesy of the Imperial Household Agency)

Princess Sayako observed a ceremony at the Imperial Palace on
Saturday to bid farewell to her ancestors as a member of the Imperial
Family ahead of her marriage to a commoner on Tuesday.

Dressed in
junihitoe, a ceremonial attire of a Japanese court lady, the Princess
walked slowly through the corridor at Kashikodokoro shrine that
enshrines Amaterasu Omikami (Great Divinity Illuminating Heaven), the
principal female deity of Shinto mythology. She entered behind a bamboo
blind, and reported that she is to marry Tokyo Metropolitan Government
official Yoshiki Kuroda, 40.

Princess Sayako then visited the shrine where the ancestors of the Imperial Family are enshrined.

Imperial
Family members, including Prince and Princess Akishino, as well as
Imperial Household Agency chief Shingo Haketa, watched the ceremony.
(Mainichi)