permits the daughters of the home to entertain their male guests alone, would be regarded as unpardonable in Japan.
As I have said, the engagement is either the matter of a lifetime or else of a few days or weeks. The date of the wedding having been fixed upon, and finally arriving, the first step is taken by the ceremonious removal of the bride's effects to the home of the groom elect. Apart from a nominal civic marriage, which practically only consists in registration, the ceremony is purely of a domestic nature.
The wedding invariably takes place in the groom's house. The bride elect is escorted to her future home by her parents, and is received by a young girl, who acts as the machi-joro, "waiting lady," by whom she is conducted to the dressing-room. In the mean time the parents of both parties have assembled in the guests' chamber, with a few intimate friends and the inevitable nakodo. Before the tokonoma, or alcove, is a lacquered table, in the center of which is a miniature pine tree—the symbol of good fortune and prosperity; and beneath the tree are two miniature figures of an old man and woman, each with a broom—symbols of household thrift and long life; while at the root of the tree is an ancient turtle of bronze, also symbolic of longevity and good fortune. This odd ornament is known as the takasago, and is always placed between the bride and groom during the ceremony. There are also in readiness the me-o-chocho (male and female butterflies), a boy and a girl of about eight years old, who wait upon the bridal couple and take the place of our "best man" and "maid of honor." The nakodo is also present with a nest of three sake cups of different sizes, and a supply of hot saké, a rice spirit. The bride and groom having taken their places on either side of the takasago, the ceremony proper, or san-san-ku-do, or "three times three toasts," is next performed. The nakodo takes one of the cups and passes it to the groom. It is then filled with saké by the "best man," and then the groom drinks and returns the cup to the nakodo, who passes it to the bride. It is now filled by the "maid of honor" and emptied by the bride, and again returned via the nakodo to the groom, and again emptied. This same form is gone through with the two remaining cups, after which the couple are regarded as man and wife. Then the nakodo, or parent of the bride, chants the takasago, or nuptial ode, as follows:
"Takasagoya, kono ura buné ni,
Ho-o-ageté tsuki uiorotomo ni, ideshi-o no,
Narmi no awaji no shima kageya,
To-oku naruo-no oki sugite,
Haya suminoye ni
Tsuki ni keri."
