Tales of Old Japan - Maybe You Like It

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. 129 This time butterflies of gold and silver paper are attached to
the wine-kettles. The bridegroom drinks a cup or two, and the ladies-inwaiting
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.
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
129.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.
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