Hagoromo no Ma

The ceiling of the Hagoromo no Ma is covered with a large canvas of painting measuring about 290㎡ imported from a French interior decorating company when the palace was being built. The painting is said to depict a section from the Noh play Hagoromo, where “petals dance in the sky and music can be heard as a wonderful perfume fills the air all around”, and from which derives the name Hagoromo no Ma (Room of Hagoromo). The story of Hagoromo is about how a fisherman from Matsubara in Miho (today’s Shizuoka prefecture) finds a hagoromo (heavenly robe) and returns it to a tennyo (heavenly maiden), upon which the maiden performs a beautiful dance in gratitude. The painting depicts smoke billowing  out of incense burners in the four corners, red and pink flowers dancing in the air, and a robe over a handrail—it is a western rendition of the moment immediately after the heavenly maiden has alighted on Earth. The missing figure of the  dancing heavenly maiden being suggestively reflected by the people dancing at the balls held here makes this a painting of taste and style.

The three French-made chandeliers that illuminate the Hagoromo no Ma are the largest and most magnificent at the State Guest House, Akasaka Palace. Measuring 3 m high and 800 kg in weight, these chandeliers comprise approximately 7,000 separate parts, most of which are crystal, and as many as 84 light bulbs used. The dazzling golden ornamentation is strewn with ballroom motifs such as European-style masks, musical instruments and bells.

There  are 4 large mirrors (3.4 m high and 2 m wide) and 2 medium-size mirrors on the walls which are covered with plaster reliefs of typical ballroom motifs. The large gold gilded plaster relief decorating the long wall panels are made by ingeniously combining various motifs including European-style masks, western musical instruments such as the violin, and Japanese musical instruments such as the biwa (Japanese lute), shō (wind instrument) and tsuzumi (small shoulder drum).