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292 HONDA THE SAMURAI. o'clock, is the time for marriage as it often is for burial in Japan. In the starlight of a June even- ing the bride set forth to her intended husband's home, an honorable part of the castle amid lovely gardens in which were a tiny lake and a waterfall, as is invariably the custom. Her toilet finished, she stepped out to take her place in the norimono, or palanquin, which, borne on the shoulders of four men, was to convey her to the main castle hall where the ceremony was to be solemnized. Just as Kiku stands in the vestibule of her temporary lodgings, let us photograph her for you. A slender maiden of seventeen with cheeks of carna- tion ; eyes that shine under lids not so broadly open as the Caucasian maiden's, but black and sparkling ; very small hands with tapering fingers, and very small feet encased in white silk mitten-socks ; her black hair glossy as polished jet, dressed in the style betokening virginity, and decked with a garland of blossoms. Her robe of pure, snowy silk folds over her bosom from the right to left and is bound at the waist by the gold-embroidered girdle, which is supported by a lesser band of scarlet silken crepe, and is tied into huge loops behind. The skirt of the dress sweeps in a round trail and her sleeves touch the ground. Her under-dress is of the finest and softest Kyoto silk. In her hands she carries a halfmoon-shaped cap or veil of floss-silk. Its use we shall see hereafter. She salutes her cousin who, clad in ceremonial dress, with his ever-present two swords, is waiting to accompany her, in addition to
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 Ichi- jo. 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
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292<br />
HONDA THE SAMURAI.<br />
o'clock, is the time for marriage as it often is for<br />
burial in Japan. In the starlight of a June even-<br />
ing the bride set forth to her intended husband's<br />
home, an honorable part of the castle amid lovely<br />
gardens in which were a tiny lake and a waterfall,<br />
as is invariably the custom. Her toilet finished, she<br />
stepped out to take her place in the norimono, or<br />
palanquin, which, borne on the shoulders of four<br />
men, was to convey her to the main castle hall<br />
where the ceremony was to be solemnized.<br />
Just as Kiku stands in the vestibule of her temporary<br />
lodgings, let us photograph her for you. A<br />
slender maiden of seventeen with cheeks of carna-<br />
tion ; eyes that shine under lids not so broadly open<br />
as the Caucasian maiden's, but black and sparkling ;<br />
very small hands with tapering fingers, and very<br />
small feet encased in white silk mitten-socks ; her<br />
black hair glossy as polished jet, dressed in the style<br />
betokening virginity, and decked with a garland of<br />
blossoms. Her robe of pure, snowy silk folds over<br />
her bosom from the right to left and is bound at<br />
the waist by the gold-embroidered girdle, which is<br />
supported by a lesser band of scarlet silken crepe,<br />
and is tied into huge loops behind. The skirt of the<br />
dress sweeps in a round trail and her sleeves touch<br />
the ground. Her under-dress is of the finest and<br />
softest Kyoto silk. In her hands she carries a halfmoon-shaped<br />
cap or veil of floss-silk. Its use we<br />
shall see hereafter. She salutes her cousin who,<br />
clad in ceremonial dress, with his ever-present two<br />
swords, is waiting to accompany her, in addition to