3 182202465 1721 s$J%*mf- m^W Jfe*'^^*^ *'* WWW;: -'W - Library

THE WEDDING OF A PRINCESS. 293
her family servants and bearers, and steps into the
gold-lacquered norimono, the beam of which is
curved in token of her high rank.
The four bearers, the servants, and the samurai
pass down along the beautiful inner castle moats
whose waters mirror the stars. The cortege enters
one of the gate-towers of the ivied castle, passes
beneath the shade of its ponderous, copper-clad portals,
and soon arrives at the main entrance of the
great Hall of Four Hundred Mats. Here they find
the stone walk covered with matting, and see a line
of officers of the lord of Echizen,
all of whom are
arrayed in gorgeous ceremonial robes. Mr. Rai,
acting as the "go-between," and several near friends
of the bridegroom, now come out to receive the
bride and deliver her to her own ladies-in-waiting,
and especially two of her own young maiden friends
who had gone before to the main part of the castle.
Here we again have an opportunity of looking at
the lovely southern princess, looking exactly like
one's ideal of a Japanese princess because dressed
like one, and, more than all, bearing in her noble
countenance the air of immemorial lineage. Nor
is this mere imagination ;
for her father is none
other than a kokushiu (province-ruling) daimio of
the same high rank as the lord of Echizen. Her
father had married the daughter of a kuge", or
noble,
of the imperial court in Kyoto, of the house of Ichijo.
On her mother's side therefore she is of true
Yamato blood ;
and yet
it is less pride than winsome
graciousness that lights up her face. Surely she will
be a blessing to Fukui 1