I’d like to get starting this blog talking about Japanese wedding which made me a “Japanese Housewife”. I think people in countryside spend much money for Wedding ceremony and relating things than people in a city. (I’m talking about middle class people, not about high class (very rich) people or so called celebrity. ) And in countryside, people are likely to put importance on tradition when they meet life event.
I dressed up in Furisode which means “swing sleeves” for it has very long sleeves around 40 inch. A set of Yuinou decoration is consist of lucky charm in Japan. The center of decoration in the photo are pinetree, bamboo, and ume blossom, a set of them is called Syo-chiku-bai and very popular symbol in Japanese celebration.
Yuinou –Engagement Ceremony
Yui (we write 結 in Chinese character which is also used for words “wedding” in Japanese) means what connects things or people. Nou (納) means offer. Yui-Nou is the engagement ceremony in which families of couple exchange things and money to make sure their engagement.
In my case, the ceremony are hold in my parent’s house. Participants were me and my husband and my parents and his parents. That started in a morning, my husband and his parents visited us with Mizuhiki decoration and money and engagement ring. Money they(groom side) gave us(bride side) is for furniture especially drawers, and Family of bride prepare other furniture and Kimono to be in that until Wedding day. There are some kinds of Kimono bride should have, and I’ll write about that next posting about wedding. Bride side offer money for Hakama(Nowadays many people buy suits for groom instead of it, and we also did so).
Totally this exchange will make sharing cost of preparing new life of wedding couple almost equal between both families.
Envelopes and my engagement ring with Mizuhiki. I keep the decoration of the ring case, because such a Japanese style of decoration was unexpected and a hospitality of the ring boutique made me very happy.
Traditionally Japanese bride prepare a set of furniture for new life like drawers and dressing table with mirror. Can you guess what is put in space the door opened? ーーThe answer is Kimono. There are empty space between drawers. It keeps Kimono away from damp and insect especially like clothes made from natural material like silk.But recently more houses or apartment rooms have closet, and more Japanese people are likely to prefer built-in furniture. So less young brides prepare a set of traditional furniture.
Mizuhiki Culture
Yuinou decoration is made of Mizuhiki. Mizuhiki is very strong string and its texture is like wire, but this is paper string. We often use envelope with Mizuhiki when we lap money to offer someone in celebration of wedding, childbirth, entering school and so on. We also use envelope with Mizuhiki for condolences.
When you use Mizuhiki to lap an envelope, it’s important to select forms of a knot and colors for each purposes. To celebrate events expected to happen again and again like childbirth, bowknot is appropriate because it is easily loosen and tied again. But we don’t use it for wedding in which people wish their bond would be kept forever. Instead of bowknot, we make more complex and firm knots. About colors, the set of red and white or gold and silver is used for celebration. The set of Black and white or yellow and white used for condolences, generally.
Mizuhiki makes knot(結). So Mizuhiki is a very important item in a ceremony which symbolize relationship between people.
Flowers made of Mizuhiki are art crafts consisting of various knots.
Even in a 100-yen($1) shop you can choose a favorite one from envelopes with various kinds of decoration thinking of a person whom you will give an envelope to.
Thank you for reading this to the end!
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