Safe-birth ritual held for Japanese princess

TOKYO, Apr 27 (Reuters) The wife of Japanese emperor Akihito's second son, pregnant with a possible heir to the Chrysanthemum throne, today underwent an ancient ritual to pray for a safe birth.

Princess Kiko, 39, is five months pregnant with her third child raising hopes that a male heir may be born into the Imperial family for the first time in four decades.

Announcement of her pregnancy earlier this year has halted plans to revise a 1947 law to give women equal rights to inherit the throne, a change which has been seen by many experts as necessary to avoid a succession crisis.

The current law allows limits imperial succession to males who are descended from an emperor through the paternal line, and Crown Prince Naruhito's only child is a girl.

Attended by court ladies and her husband, Kiko was wrapped in a long white sash provided by Empress Michiko in a symbolic gesture to protect her unborn child, an Imperial Household Agency spokesman said.

''From what I hear, all is well with the pregnancy,'' he added.

Japanese women who have entered their fifth month of pregnancy customarily wrap a white sash around themselves on the ''Day of the Dog'' -- an auspicious day for birth according to the traditional zodiac.

Dogs are believed to be good luck for birth as folklore says they give birth easily and safely.

If Kiko's baby, due in September, is a boy, he will be third in line to the throne under current law. Kiko already has two daughters, aged 11 and 14, and no male has been born into the imperial family since her husband, Prince Akishino, was born in 1965.

A tabloid magazine earlier this week reported that rumours have begun to circulate that the baby is indeed a boy, but the Imperial Household Agency official declined to comment.

A Tokyo obstetrician said that it is often possible to know the sex of a baby through standard ultrasound exams by the 20th week of pregnancy.

''That's the time that you can know pretty certainly, although with boys you often know earlier,'' she said.

''Of course, with some genetic tests, you can know quite soon after conception.'' Conservatives want to maintain a male imperial line they say stretches back more than 2,000 years, but opinion polls have shown that a majority of the public supports letting women ascend the throne and pass it on to their children.

However, many also feel there is no need to rush through the legal revisions now that Kiko is pregnant.

REUTERS KD KP1053