Court rituals which are performed in the Three Shrines in the Imperial Court consist of taisai (grand festivals), in which the Emperor himself conducts a ceremony and presents a message to the ancestors of the Imperial Family, and shosai (small festivals), in which the shoten-cho (the chief ritualist) conducts a ceremony and the Emperor bows his head in prayer.
宮中三殿で行われる祭祀には、天皇が自ら祭典を斎行し、御告文を奏上する大祭と、掌典長が祭典を行い、天皇が拝礼する小祭がある。