Next week his ather will choose his name and his mother his imperial symbol

It is these guardians - all men - who will guide the young heir through a li e o elaborate ritual, which began yesterday with the presentation o a sword symbolising the protection o his grand ather, Emperor Akihito.Next week, his ather will choose his name and his mother his imperial symbol. E en those who don't buy into the o icial line that the amily has reigned "since time immemorial" belie e it pro ides stability, continuity and tradition in a country that has been trans ormed beyond all recognition. A girl, so traditionalist thinking goes, might one day do the unthinkable: marry the wrong kind o man or, e en worse, a oreigner.The guardians o this tradition are the 1,100 bureaucrats o the Imperial Household Agency, the secreti e go ernment body that manages the li e o the royals, along with the Shinto priests who o ersee religious rites. In 1998, and with an expanded port olio o businesses, the management passed out o amily hands with the retirement o its then chairman Da id Sainsbury, now a Labour li e peer Around 30 per cent o the shares are still amily-owned.

The Sainsbury amily has become known or its philanthropy, particularly in the arts. ord styles itsel as "a company where ' amily' has a much broader meaning, re erring to ar more than just those with the last name ' ord'." Bill ord's unprecedented decision to cede control o his great-grand ather's legacy will test that rhetoric.Only the name remainsJ Sainsbury PLCThe irst Sainsbury's supermarket was ounded by John James Sainsbury in 1869. Pre iously untouchable trophies like the Aston Martin brand ha e been put up or sale to help clear debts, and e en the UK-based Jaguar may be on the block in the coming months. "I would not ha e come to the company i Bill ord was not staying as chairman," Mr Mulally said diplomatically - but the question remains whether Mr ord can resist using his amily's power to apply the brakes. Bill ord inds this shredding o the company's history more pain ul than any outsider might.There was much talk yesterday o the teamwork and the co-operation that is to come. But the North American business seems stuck in the red, with sales going backwards. He makes lists o its strengths and weaknesses while he jogs in the early morning.

He has been its public ace and cheerleader in the manner o his great-grand ather. But obser ers ha e worried that he is too encumbered by the past to make the bolder steps required to slice o the lab, to shrink the company to what has to become a more realistic size, to accept that ewer people will buy ord cars.He has made the right noises, mo ed in the right direction, slashed car production this year to try to stop o er-supply rom dri ing down prices, cut 30,000 jobs and promised still more and actory closures, too. Its 300,000 workers cannot produce cars as cheaply as ri als in Asia, and the company has been hamstrung by the costs o pensions and healthcare or generations o earlier workers. Gas-guzzling SU s and pick-up trucks, the mainstay o ord's production lines, ha e allen out o ashion in the rest o the world and may e en be doing so in the US now that soaring petrol prices are orcing dri ers to think greener.Bill ord li es and breathes the company.