(FROM THE "SHO-REI HIKKI"--RECORD OF CEREMONIES.)
The ceremonies observed at marriages are various, and it is not right
for a man, exceeding the bounds of his condition in life, to
transgress against the rules which are laid down. When the middle-man
has arranged the preliminaries of the marriage between the two
parties, he carries the complimentary present, which is made at the
time of betrothal, from the future bridegroom to his destined bride;
and if this present is accepted, the lady's family can no longer
retract their promise. This is the beginning of the contract. The
usual betrothal presents are as follows. Persons of the higher classes
send a robe of white silk; a piece of gold embroidery for a girdle; a
piece of silk stuff; a piece of white silk, with a lozenge pattern,
and other silk stuffs (these are made up into a pile of three layers);
fourteen barrels of wine, and seven sorts of condiments. Persons of
the middle class send a piece of white silk stuff; a piece of gold
embroidery for a girdle; a piece of white silk, with a lozenge
pattern, and other silk stuffs (these are made up into a pile of two
layers); ten barrels of wine, and five sorts of condiments. The lower
classes send a robe of white silk, a robe of coloured silk, in a pile
of one layer, together with six barrels of wine and three sorts of
condiments. To the future father-in-law is sent a sword, with a
scabbard for slinging, such as is worn in war-time, together with a
list of the presents; to the mother-in-law, a silk robe, with wine and
condiments. Although all these presents are right and proper for the
occasion, still they must be regulated according to the means of the
persons concerned. The future father-in-law sends a present of equal
value in return to his son-in-law, but the bride elect sends no return
present to her future husband; the present from the father-in-law must
by no means be omitted, but according to his position, if he be poor,
he need only send wine and condiments.
In sending the presents care must be taken not to fold the silk robe.
The two silk robes that are sent on the marriage night must be placed
with the collars stitched together in a peculiar fashion.
The ceremonies of sending the litter to fetch the bride on the wedding
night are as follows. In families of good position, one of the
principal retainers on either side is deputed to accompany the bride
and to receive her. Matting is spread before the entrance-door, upon
which the bride's litter is placed, while the two principal retainers
congratulate one another, and the officers of the bridegroom receive
the litter. If a bucket containing clams, to make the wedding broth,
has been sent with the bride, it is carried and received by a person
of distinction. Close by the entrance-door a fire is lighted on the
right hand and on the left. These fires are called garden-torches. In
front of the corridor along which the litter passes, on the right hand
and on the left, two men and two women, in pairs, place two mortars,
right and left, in which they pound rice; as the litter passes, the
pounded rice from the left-hand side is moved across to the right, and
the two are mixed together into one. This is called the blending of
the rice-meal.[113] Two candles are lighted, the one on the right hand
and the other on the left of the corridor; and after the litter has
passed, the candle on the left is passed over to the right, and, the
two wicks being brought together, the candles are extinguished. These
last three ceremonies are only performed at the weddings of persons of
high rank; they are not observed at the weddings of ordinary persons.
The bride takes with her to her husband's house, as presents, two
silken robes sewed together in a peculiar manner, a dress of ceremony
with wings of hempen cloth, an upper girdle and an under girdle, a
fan, either five or seven pocket-books, and a sword: these seven
presents are placed on a long tray, and their value must depend upon
the means of the family.
[Footnote 113: Cf. Gibbon on Roman Marriages, _Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire_, vol. iv. p. 345: "The contracting parties were seated
on the same sheepskin; they tasted a salt cake of _far_, or rice; and
this _confarreation_, which denoted the ancient food of Italy, served
as an emblem of their mystic union of mind and body."]
The dress of the bride is a white silk robe with a lozenge pattern,
over an under-robe, also of white silk. Over her head she wears a veil
of white silk, which, when she sits down, she allows to fall about her
as a mantle.
The bride's furniture and effects are all arranged for her by female
attendants from her own house on a day previous to the wedding; and
the bridegroom's effects are in like manner arranged by the women of
his own house.
When the bride meets her husband in the room where the relations are
assembled, she takes her seat for this once in the place of honour,
her husband sitting in a lower place, not directly opposite to her,
but diagonally, and discreetly avoiding her glance.
On the raised part of the floor are laid out beforehand two trays, the
preparations for a feast, a table on which are two wagtails,[114] a
second table with a representation of Elysium, fowls, fish, two
wine-bottles, three wine-cups, and two sorts of kettles for warming
wine. The ladies go out to meet the bride, and invite her into a
dressing-room, and, when she has smoothed her dress, bring her into
the room, and she and the bridegroom take their seats in the places
appointed for them. The two trays are then brought out, and the
ladies-in-waiting, with complimentary speeches, hand dried fish and
seaweed, such as accompany presents, and dried chestnuts to the
couple. Two married ladies then each take one of the wine-bottles
which have been prepared, and place them in the lower part of the
room. Then two handmaids, who act as wine-pourers, bring the kettles
and place them in the lower part of the room. The two wine-bottles
have respectively a male and female butterfly, made of paper, attached
to them. The female butterfly is laid on its back, and the wine is
poured from the bottle into the kettle. The male butterfly is then
taken and laid on the female butterfly, and the wine from the bottle
is poured into the same kettle, and the whole is transferred with due
ceremony to another kettle of different shape, which the wine-pourers
place in front of themselves. Little low dining-tables are laid, one
for each person, before the bride and bridegroom, and before the
bride's ladies-in-waiting; the woman deputed to pour the wine takes
the three wine-cups and places them one on the top of the other before
the bridegroom, who drinks two cups[115] from the upper cup, and pours
a little wine from the full kettle into the empty kettle. The pouring
together of the wine on the wedding night is symbolical of the union
that is being contracted. The bridegroom next pours out a third cup of
wine and drinks it, and the cup is carried by the ladies to the bride,
who drinks three cups, and pours a little wine from one kettle into
the other, as the bridegroom did. A cup is then set down and put on
the other two, and they are carried back to the raised floor and
arranged as before. After this, condiments are set out on the
right-hand side of a little table, and the wine-pourers place the
three cups before the bride, who drinks three cups from the second
cup, which is passed to the bridegroom; he also drinks three cups as
before, and the cups are piled up and arranged in their original
place, by the wine-pourers. A different sort of condiment is next
served on the left-hand side; and the three cups are again placed
before the bridegroom, who drinks three cups from the third cup, and
the bride does the same. When the cups and tables have been put back
in their places, the bridegroom, rising from his seat, rests himself
for a while. During this time soup of fishes' fins and wine are served
to the bride's ladies-in-waiting and to the serving-women. They are
served with a single wine-cup of earthenware, placed upon a small
square tray, and this again is set upon a long tray, and a wine-kettle
with all sorts of condiments is brought from the kitchen. When this
part of the feast is over, the room is put in order, and the bride and
bridegroom take their seats again. Soups and a preparation of rice are
now served, and two earthenware cups, gilt and silvered, are placed on
a tray, on which there is a representation of the island of
Takasago.[116] This time butterflies of gold and silver paper are
attached to the wine-kettles. The bridegroom drinks a cup or two, and
the ladies-in-waiting offer more condiments to the couple. Rice, with
hot water poured over it, according to custom, and carp soup are
brought in, and, the wine having been heated, cups of lacquer ware are
produced; and it is at this time that the feast commences. (Up to now
the eating and drinking has been merely a form.) Twelve plates of
sweetmeats and tea are served; and the dinner consists of three
courses, one course of seven dishes, one of five dishes, and one of
three dishes, or else two courses of five dishes and one of three
dishes, according to the means of the family. The above ceremonies are
those which are proper only in families of the highest rank, and are
by no means fitting for the lower classes, who must not step out of
the proper bounds of their position.
[Footnote 114: The god who created Japan is called Kunitokodachi no
Mikoto. Seven generations of gods after his time existed Izanagi no
Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto--the first a god, the second a goddess.
As these two divine beings were standing upon the floating bridge of
heaven, two wagtails came; and the gods, watching the amorous
dalliance of the two birds, invented the art of love. From their union
thus inaugurated sprang the mountains, the rivers, the grass, the
trees, the remainder of the gods, and mankind. Another fable is, that
as the two gods were standing on the floating bridge of heaven,
Izanagi no Mikoto, taking the heavenly jewelled spear, stirred up the
sea, and the drops which fell from the point of it congealed and
became an island, which was called _Onokoro-jima_, on which the two
gods, descending from heaven, took up their abode.]
[Footnote 115: Each cup contains but a sip.]
[Footnote 116: In the island of Takasago, in the province of Harima,
stands a pine-tree, called the "pine of mutual old age." At the root
the tree is single, but towards the centre it springs into two
stems--an old, old pine, models of which are used at weddings as a
symbol that the happy pair shall reach old age together. Its evergreen
leaves are an emblem of the unchanging constancy of the heart. Figures
of an old man and woman under the tree are the spirits of the old
pine.]
There is a popular tradition that, in the ceremony of drinking wine on
the wedding night, the bride should drink first, and then hand the cup
to the bridegroom; but although there are some authorities upon
ceremonies who are in favour of this course, it is undoubtedly a very
great mistake. In the "Record of Rites," by Confucius, it is written,
"The man stands in importance before the woman: it is the right of the
strong over the weak. Heaven ranks before earth; the prince ranks
before his minister. This law of honour is one." Again, in the "Book
of History," by Confucius, it is written, "The hen that crows in the
morning brings misfortune." In our own literature in the Jusho (Book
of the Gods), "When the goddesses saw the gods for the first time,
they were the first to cry cut, 'Oh! what beautiful males!' But the
gods were greatly displeased, and said, 'We, who are so strong and
powerful, should by rights have been the first to speak; how is it
that, on the contrary, these females speak first? This is indeed
vulgar.'" Again it is written, "When the gods brought forth the
cripple Hiruko, the Lord of Heaven, answering, said that his
misfortune was a punishment upon the goddesses who had presumed to
speak first." The same rule therefore exists in China and in Japan,
and it is held to be unlucky that the wife should take precedence:
with this warning people should be careful how they commit a breach of
etiquette, although it may be sanctioned by the vulgar.
At the wedding of the lower classes, the bride and her ladies and
friends have a feast, but the bridegroom has no feast; and when the
bride's feast is over, the bridegroom is called in and is presented
with the bride's wine-cup; but as the forms observed are very vulgar,
it is not worth while to point out the rules which guide them. As this
night is essentially of importance to the married couple only, there
are some writers on ceremonies who have laid down that no feast need
be prepared for the bride's ladies, and in my opinion they are right:
for the husband and wife at the beginning of their intercourse to be
separated, and for the bride alone to be feasted like an ordinary
guest, appears to be an inauspicious opening. I have thus pointed out
two ill-omened customs which are to be avoided.
The ceremonies observed at the weddings of persons of ordinary rank
are as follows:--The feast which is prepared is in proportion to the
means of the individuals. There must be three wine-cups set out upon a
tray. The ceremony of drinking wine three times is gone through, as
described above, after which the bride changes her dress, and a feast
of three courses is produced--two courses of five dishes and one of
three dishes, or one course of five dishes, one of three, and one of
two, according to the means of the family. A tray, with a
representation of the island of Takasago, is brought out, and the wine
is heated; sweetmeats of five or seven sorts are also served in boxes
or trays; and when the tea comes in, the bridegroom gets up, and goes
to rest himself. If the wine kettles are of tin, they must not be set
out in the room: they must be brought in from the kitchen; and in that
case the paper butterflies are not attached to them.
In old times the bride and bridegroom used to change their dress three
or five times during the ceremony; but at the present time, after the
nine cups of wine have been drunk, in the manner recorded above, the
change of dress takes place once. The bride puts on the silk robe
which she has received from the bridegroom, while he dons the dress of
ceremony which has been brought by the bride.
When these ceremonies have been observed, the bride's ladies conduct
her to the apartments of her parents-in-law. The bride carries with
her silk robes, as presents for her parents and brothers and
sister-in-law. A tray is brought out, with three wine-cups, which are
set before the parents-in-law and the bride. The father-in-law drinks
three cups and hands the cup to the bride, who, after she has drunk
two cups, receives a present from her father-in-law; she then drinks a
third cup, and returns the cup to her father-in-law, who again drinks
three cups. Fish is then brought in, and, in the houses of ordinary
persons, a preparation of rice. Upon this the mother-in-law, taking
the second cup, drinks three cups and passes the cup to the bride, who
drinks two cups and receives a present from her mother-in-law: she
then drinks a third cup and gives back the cup to the mother-in-law,
who drinks three cups again. Condiments are served, and, in ordinary
houses, soup; after which the bride drinks once from the third cup and
hands it to her father-in-law, who drinks thrice from it; the bride
again drinks twice from it, and after her the mother-in-law drinks
thrice. The parents-in-law and the bride thus have drunk in all nine
times. If there are any brothers or sisters-in-law, soup and
condiments are served, and a single porcelain wine-cup is placed
before them on a tray, and they drink at the word of command of the
father-in-law. It is not indispensable that soup should be served upon
this occasion. If the parents of the bridegroom are dead, instead of
the above ceremony, he leads his bride to make her obeisances before
the tablets on which their names are inscribed.
In old days, after the ceremonies recorded above had been gone
through, the bridegroom used to pay a visit of ceremony to the bride's
parents; but at the present time the visit is paid before the wedding,
and although the forms observed on the occasion resemble those of the
ancient times, still they are different, and it would be well that we
should resume the old fashion. The two trays which had been used at
the wedding feast, loaded with fowl and fish and condiments neatly
arranged, used to be put into a long box and sent to the
father-in-law's house. Five hundred and eighty cakes of rice in
lacquer boxes were also sent. The modern practice of sending the rice
cakes in a bucket is quite contrary to etiquette: no matter how many
lacquer boxes may be required for the purpose, they are the proper
utensils for sending the cakes in. Three, five, seven, or ten men's
loads of presents, according to the means of the family, are also
offered. The son-in-law gives a sword and a silk robe to his
father-in-law, and a silk robe to his mother-in-law, and also gives
presents to his brothers and sisters-in-law. (The ceremony of drinking
wine is the same as that which takes place between the bride and her
parents-in-law, with a very slight deviation: the bridegroom receives
no presents from his mother-in-law, and when the third cup is drunk
the son-in-law drinks before the father-in-law). A return visit is
paid by the bride's parents to the bridegroom, at which similar forms
are observed.
At the weddings of the great, the bridal chamber is composed of three
rooms thrown into one,[117] and newly decorated. If there are only two
rooms available, a third room is built for the occasion. The presents,
which have been mentioned above, are set out on two trays. Besides
these, the bridegroom's clothes are hung up upon clothes-racks. The
mattress and bedclothes are placed in a closet. The bride's effects
must all be arranged by the women who are sent on a previous day for
the purpose, or it may be done whilst the bride is changing her
clothes. The shrine for the image of the family god is placed on a
shelf adjoining the sleeping-place. There is a proper place for the
various articles of furniture. The _kaioké_[118] is placed on the
raised floor; but if there be no raised floor, it is placed in a
closet with the door open, so that it may be conspicuously seen. The
books are arranged on a book-shelf or on a cabinet; if there be
neither shelf nor cabinet, they are placed on the raised floor. The
bride's clothes are set out on a clothes-rack; in families of high
rank, seven robes are hung up on the rack; five of these are taken
away and replaced by others, and again three are taken away and
replaced by others; and there are either two or three clothes-racks:
the towel-rack is set up in a place of more honour than the
clothes-racks. If there is no dressing-room, the bride's bedclothes
and dressing furniture are placed in the sleeping-room. No screens are
put up on the bridal night, but a fitting place is chosen for them on
the following day. All these ceremonies must be in proportion to the
means of the family.
[Footnote 117: The partitions of a Japanese suite of apartments being
merely composed of paper sliding-screens, any number of rooms,
according to the size of the house, can be thrown into one at a
moment's notice.]
[Footnote 118: A _kaioké_ is a kind of lacquer basin for washing the
hands and face.]