| Summary: | The Mirror, the Jewel and the Sword are identified as the Three Sacred Treasures of the Japanese monarchy, passed, from time immemorial, to successive generations of sovereigns during the enthronement ceremony. This paper retraces the story and vicissitudes of these emblems, since their appearance in the myths of the foundation of the nation until now. It underlines the ideological dimension of these objects, not only as symbols of the dignity of the emperor’s position and expressions of the peculiar legitimacy of the imperial lineage, but also as paragons of moral virtues traditionally attached to the throne. It emphasizes the role, before World War II, played by the imperial regalia in the construction of pre-war nationalism praising Japan as a heavenly chosen nation. It finally stresses the unique characteristic of these objects, which have never been publicly displayed, as receptacles of an invisible, but transcendent authority, that does not need to be revealed to the outside world to structure the Japanese way of politics.
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