1998 Winter Olympics opening ceremony

At exactly 11am JST, a bell at Zenkō-ji temple was rung, by a man who was a teenager during World War II, and was in training to be a kamikaze pilot when the war ended. The bell that was rung was cast in 1667, and reverberates as a symbol of Nagano. It was rung to confer blessing on the opening ceremony.[2]

Then, the announcer states that the Olympic site has been linked with the five continents, though satellite links. There is a choir waiting at each satellite location. Three of these locations are used to symbolize major peaceful resolutions in the 1990s:

• Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany - symbolizing the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1991
• Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
• United Nations General Assembly Hall, New York City, United States - symbolizing international peace.
• Shenwu Gate (Gate of Divine Prowess) of the Forbidden City, Beijing, China
• False Bay Cape Point, near Cape Town, South Africa - a multi-racial choir is shown symbolizing the end of the South African Apartheid.

Onbashira — or "sacred pillars" in the Japanese — are large wooden fir posts which stand at the corners of local shrines in Nagano Prefecture. They are brought down from the surrounding mountains to purify the earth. At this ceremony, we see hundreds of people perform the Satobiki ceremony, where four 12 meter high onbashira are erected at two entrances of the stadium. The logs are raised with ropes by hand, and while they are being raised, a ceremonial group of log bearers ride the logs and sing and perform other feats, while numerous men and women sustain a consistent chant. Barry Davies — the commentator for the BBC broadcast showing stated that the chants were "plaintive" being a "prelude to much hard work."[2] Finally, each post unfurled a yellow steamer which were to call the gods that lived in the trees.

33 Sumo Wrestlers across Japan enter the stadium to perform the dohyo-iri ring purification ceremony, one that can be traceable back to an 8th century text. Then Yokozuna Akebono Tarō, eight-time Sumo Grand Champion, and 38 other wrestlers also enter the stadium, totaling the 72 wrestlers.[4]

The Emperor of Japan Akihito, and his wife, Empress Michiko arrive with IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch and other dignitaries.

Then Akebono performed the Yokozuna dohyo-iri ring purification ceremony, the symbolic calling of the attention of the gods and expelling the evil spirits from the competition venue. It is more intricate than the normal dohyo-iri ceremony.[4][5]

Giant straw Dōsojin, which appear in Shinto folklore in Ōoka village arrive in the stadium. 150 primary school aged children, local participants of the "One School, One Country" initiative, arrive dressed as Yukinko, traditional straw winter coats and hats. After some dancing, the children take off their straw coats, showing knitted sweaters of country flags representing the 72 nations competing in these Winter Games.[6] Each child will march with their country during the Parade of Nations, and will appear also during the lighting of the Olympic Flame.

Japanese artist Ryoko Moriyama and primary school children perform "Ashita Koso Kodomotachi ga...", based upon When Children Rule the World from the 1996 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Whistle Down the Wind. It is performed in both Japanese and English.[7]

2,302 athletes from 72 countries and regions participated in the competition,[8] including 814 female athletes and 1488 male athletes. Both the number of participating delegations and the number of athletes participating in the competition were the most ever at the time. At this Olympics, Uruguay, Azerbaijan and Macedonia had their largest grouping in the history of the Winter Olympics.[9]

NAOC President Eishiro Saito delivered a speech in Japanese, welcoming everyone. IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch delivered a speech in English, calling for athletes to "observe the Olympic truce."[10] The Emperor of Japan Akihito declared the games open in Japanese.[2]

After a fanfare, the Olympic Flag was carried around the stadium by eight former Japanese Olympians: Chiharu Igaya, Yukio Kasaya, Akitsugu Konno, Yoshihiro Kitazawa, Hatsue Nagakubo-Takamizawa, Yuko Otaka, Seiko Hashimoto, and Hiromi Yamamoto. During the raising of the Olympic flag, the Olympic Hymn was sung in Japanese by the Nagano Children's Choir.

The Japanese National Anthem, Kimigayo, was played by Gagaku musicians.

• Nagano City Children's Choir – Olympic Hymn
• Gagaku musicians - National Anthem of Japan[11]

The cauldron used during the games is now used as a monument to the games.

At the end of a 49-day torch relay across Japan, the Olympic flame is carried into the stadium by Chris Moon, an Landmine Survivors Network member and an advocate for banning anti-personnel landmines. He is accompanied by the local Nagano children featured earlier wearing their flag sweaters. There is also a reprise of the theme song, When Children Rule the World. Moon passes and hand over the Olympic torch to and Masako Chiba, bronze medalist for the Women's 10,000 metres at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics in Athens. Chiba passes the torch to Takanori Kono, Masashi Abe, and Reiichi Mikata for the Nordic Combine team, then Hiromi Suzuki, winner of the Women's marathon who runs upstairs while surrounded by local Nagano children. The last torchbearer is Midori Ito, Olympic silver medalist of the Ladies' singles at the Figure skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, and champion of the 1989 World Figure Skating Championships, who lights the cauldron.[4] The music played during this sequence is Un bel dì, vedremo aria from the opera Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly".[12]

Japanese men's Nordic combined skier Kenji Ogiwara took the oath on behalf of all 1998 Olympic athletes in Japanese, while the officials' oath was taken by figure skating referee Junko Hiramatsu in Japanese.

1,998 balloons in the shape of doves were released from the stage of the stadium.

The Ceremony closes with Ozawa Seiji from Nagano Prefectural Culture Hall conducting Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, 4th Movement (Ode to Joy). He conducts the Nagano Winter Orchestra, Soloists, a local Chorus as well has choruses from the five satellite locations shown at the beginning of the ceremony: The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin - Germany, The Sydney Opera House in Sydney - Australia, The United Nations General Assembly in New York City - United States, The Shenwu Gate in the Forbidden City, Beijing - China and False Bay Cape Point, near Cape Town - South Africa.[13]

There are also 81 Ballet dancers in the stadium, and the audience also joins in with the singing.[2]

The ceremony concludes with five Kawasaki T-4 planes fly in formation overhead the stadium in the Olympic colors.

Nagano Prefectural Culture Hall: Ozawa Seiji, Tokyo Opera Singers, Nagano Winter Orchestra. Sopranos: Izabela Labuda, Claudia Waite, Altos: Zheng Cao, Ruth Peel, Tenors: Anthony Dean Griffey, Gwyn Hughes Jones, Baritones: Denis Sedov, Kevin Short.[14]

The Five Choirs

• Berlin: Ernst Senff Choir
• Sydney: Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
• New York City: Boston Symphony Tanglewood Festival Chorus
• Beijing: China National Symphony Orchestra Chorus
• Cape Point: Harmony Singers, Princess Square Singers, The Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town