Marriage in Japan.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7714, 17 January 1905, Page 4

Marriage in Japan.

In Japan the state of celibacy is practically unknown, everyone! marrying at an early age, and remarrying frequently, for divorce is in great favour, as writes Ernest Tissot in La Modern, of Paris, translated for Public Opinion. In the country) of chrysanthemums hardly have the young men reached their eighteenth year and the girls their sixteenth when their parents commence to have one thought—to marry their children as advantageously and as quickly as possible. According to Japanese ideas, there is no more stinging reproach for a father than to taunt him with still having under his roof an unmarried daughter of twenty years. The question of niaiTiagt in Japan is much less one of looking after the happiaess of the children than it is that of caring for the continuation of the race. This necessity of preventing at all costs the extinguishment of the family is so absolute that law a»id usage admit three sorts of marriage. Either the father, as in Europe, demands a wife for his son, the voung girl in marrying taking the name other husband, or in case there is no son irt the house the father geeks for his daughter an alliance with the ejder son of a good house, the latter, after the marriage cercmonv, taking the name of the girl. In case there is neither son nor daughter, the head of the house selects a couple of young ]>eople, whom he adopts, in order that he may marry the one to the other, leaving them his fortune and the honour of bearing his name.;

In all these negotiations there is no trace of love, this mousko of the topper tin't being married to this mousme with the painted cheeks because their fortunes are etfual, their positions equivalent, or their families in friendly relations. The customs of the country do not allow the fiance to make any sort of court to his fiancee, it being necessary that they leave all to tho experience of their parents and to their respective good stars. Love, it should he stated, is not a sentiment which is greatly prized in Japan, the word love—horeru—when applied to a woman being offensive.

The head of a family who has a son ren-dy to fake a wife states this fact to his acquaintance, and as soon as he hears of a person with the social guarantees, and especially the pecuniary means commensurate with those which he is able to offer, he requests an old friend of the family in whom ho h'as full confidence to serve as an intermediary in bringing about the marriage, or, in good .Japanese, to act as nakodo. Japanese etiquette allows the prospective husband to have only one interview with his fiancee, which is called themi-ai. On the great day the fiancee has to think only of her toilet, which is no small affair, since it takes all clay to prepare it. On his side, the fiancee, besides his toilet, which is elaborate enough, has to see 1o the de--coralion of his house. When the preparations are completed the fiance, after lighting a little fireatlhe door of his house, sends his friends—his butterflies of honour—to present his compliments to his fiancee. The girl enters a lingo—a sort of chair, carried by porli-rs—and departs for the nuplial mansion, escorted by her parents, the friends of the family, and a battalion of old servants bearing presents, which the little bride offers to the new servants. whom she must soon command. The bridegroom/awaits her sealed in his ■ house, and calmly eyes her as she enters. Tho girl approaches him and takes her place on a cushion beside him. Now from a neighbouring roonT break forth the guttural sounds of the marriage chant, the Icgend,ary titai, which" continues during I tho whole of the san-san-ku-doritual. Priests, .take no pnrtj the -wteion

ol the country not believing it necessary either to sanction or bless an act of merely social significance. In order to complete the ritual a mousko or mousme of honour places on a small, white table three cups of gilded lacquer of different size and two flasks of rice brandy, which are offered by the bride to her husband. Then the nakodo chants a sakusgo—a .song wishing longevity—and the marriage is completed. The ceremony is not preceded' or followed by any civil function, it being merely necessary for the young bride to announce at tiro census bureau of the district the change in her name and domicile. The following morning the tribulations and trials of the young wife commence. First, the parents of the bridegroom must be reckoned with; then the servants of the family, who look upon the young wife us an intruder, and, finally, the husband, who, without perhaps wishing to do so, in many instances mistreats his wife. Custom dictates that on the third day after the marriage the young wife returns to her home to pass a week. Here in the midst of her family she may weep and lament, ibu't on the seventh 'day, escorted by parents, friends and servants bearing presents, the husband comes to seek his companion ; at this time the father of the girl gives a dinner which must equal that of the nuptial ceremony. In case, however, the wife has been the victim of extreme cruelty, the law permits her to refuse to return home with her husband. On this point the code is formal, the marriage being annulled without further procedure, although this is the only time that a Japanese woman may obtain a divorce. If she returns home with her husband, however, she enters upon the most abusive and the moat monstrous life of slavery that the tyranny of man ever created.