Japanese Engagement and Wedding Traditions

The Japanese wedding process begins with an ornate engagement ceremony called the yunio, during which the families of the bride and groom meet for the first time and share a meal. Possibly the most important part of this ceremony is the giving of symbolic gifts wrapped in ornate rice paper. The gifts include: dried cuttlefish (because of its phallic shape); kelp or konbu (because the character can be written to mean “child-bearing woman”); a long, linen thread (to symbolize the gray hair of old age); and a folded fan which spreads out to show future wealth and growth in numbers.

The wedding itself is also an ornate ceremony, in which the bride changed clothes several times. She usually wears her hair up, fastened by tortoise-shell combs. She wears a white veil, and her face is heavily painted a creamy white. The all-white silk wedding kimono dates back all the way to the Edo era (1700-1900), and also the traditions of the Samurai brides. In Japan, white symbolizes a new beginning and an end – the bride “dies” as a daughter, and is reborn as a wife to her husband and his family. She first changes into an ornate silver, gold, and red robe. The robe is typically embroidered with symbols like cranes and flowers. After this, she changes into a deep-colored, patterned kimono usually reserved for unmarried women. This is, of course, the last time she will ever get to wear this kimono.

The grooms clothing is not nearly so elaborate or complicated – he wears a black silk kimono with his family crest in white in five different places. Under the kimono he wears a striped, pleated, skirt – a hakama. He carried a white folded fan, and wears white sandals.

The ceremony is also elaborate, complete with blessings from the Gods and a ritual sharing a sake. Japanese-Americans tend to value the cultural traditions of the native Japanese and adhere to these traditions, including the ornate clothing and the ceremonies.