Shinto Wedding...

Had a taiko concert on Saturday morning at the Flower Festival in Asahi - which was nice. Then hopped straight on the train, suited and booted to attend the wedding of one of my eikaiwa student's sons. But this was no ordinary wedding - it was a Shinto Wedding!

Tucked behind the urban hum and drum of Nishicho - Toyama's shopping area, is the rather lovely Hie Shrine. The ceremony was only an hour, but it was a pretty amazing thing to have seen.

It's completely different from any Western wedding. They exchange rings, but there is no 'you may kiss the bride' or cheery organ-playing, instead they have a little house band who play hits from the middle ages armed with a little instrument resembling a piccolo and a shaku-hachi (Japanese flute).

As you can probably imagine it is extremely formal. From the pouring of the sake, the dancing shinto girls, to the guests entering the shrine everything is carried out in a organised and efficent manner.

The vibe is similar to what I imagine a pagan ceremony would be like. The music was folky, mysterious and rather sombre and reminded me of the soundtrack to that cult pagan movie - the Wicker Man. It is very spiritual, but rather than having a focal point, such as the cross or alter in Christian church, the spirits are everywhere in Shinto like in pagan rituals, and intermittent hand-clapping serves to dispel omnipresent evil spirits.

What surprised me is that most Japanese people found the whole experience as alien as I did! Western weddings are the thing now in Japan, and nowadays most people like to get married in a building resembling a Christian church. So in hindsight it was not surprising that the people sitting next to me were giggling at the rather funny hats that the Shinto priests were wearing. The bride's hat was the most amazing, as you can see from the picture.