Japan's Princess Sayako in ancient Japanese formal court ensemble junihitoe (twelve-layered kimono garments) is seen at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in this picture released by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan November 11, 2005. Princess Sayako, the only daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, paid respects to her imperial ancestors and bade farewell to her parents in rituals on Saturday ahead of her wedding to the Tokyo government official Yoshiki Kuroda on November 15. (Photo: Xinhua)

TOKYO, Nov. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- After a year of traditional preparations and rites, Japanese Princess Sayako and Tokyo metropolitan government employee Yoshiki Kuroda married Tuesday.

    Through the wedding with Kuroda, 40, a commoner, the 36-year-old princess has to relinquish her royal title as stipulated by the Imperial House Law. It is the first wedding in 45 years for a reigning emperor's daughter.

    About 30 people from the both families attended the Shinto-style wedding ceremony at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, which has no relation to the imperial family.

    The princess, also a former part-time bird researcher, is the last of the emperor's three children to marry.

    The government announced their engagement in December last year after the news had to be delayed due to the strong earthquakes that struck Niigata Prefecture in October last year and the death of her great-aunt, Princess Takamatsu, in earlier December.

    A series of traditional rites and ceremonies then followed. At one of them held Saturday, the princess delivered her farewell address to her parents.

    The wedding day has arrived as the Japanese public has begun to increasingly focus its attention on the succession system of the world's oldest hereditary monarchy.   Enditem

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