The majority of Japanese relationships were customarily intimate unions between members of the same family https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/real-story-saint-valentine. Numerous people nowadays choose to have a more conventional wedding service held at a temple or different spiritual site. Others continue to practice the more traditional rituals, frequently including a sakura ( cherry blossom ) ceremony, where the bride and groom cross a tree together to signify the renewal of their vows.
Shinto, the church practiced by Japan’s aboriginal people, dominates these rites for the most part. In a meeting that is both grave and joyful, these ceremonies, known as shinzen shiki, are officiated by a priest. The couple makes an announcement to the kami and asks for their gift during this ritual. In a meeting known as the sansankudo, they consume nine sips of the three bowls, where the number three signifies luck and unification. The bride and groom take vows, swap donations, and then kiss each other before performing a royal dance to please the angels.
The shinzen shiki rituals are hardly good to vanish, despite the increasing popularity of Western-style weddings in Japan. Toyohiko Ikeda, a main Shinto preacher at the Sugawara Shrine in Machida, with whom we spoke, about the customs that have evolved into more contemporary ceremonies.
The couple attends a ceremony greeting after the primary festival. Relatives and friends normally attend this extremely elegant gathering. Traditional gifts are usually presented in silk and tied with mizuhiki, or papers strips, to symbolize fine fortune hot japanese women.
