The rising sound of flutes is the first signal – the sound to all around that the wedding of a niece of the Emperor had begun. The tone was joined soon by other instruments in a rich and moving tapestry of sound as each musician entered through the gate leading to the Temple of Amaterasu in a line, one after the other. Each was dressed in formal court garments in rich, pale blue silk, signaling their origin from the Crane. Following them was the priest in his peaked cap, and behind, finally, are the couple.

Nanzihime immediately drew the eye – she was swathed in colorful layers of kimono that, along with her hair and makeup, only seemed to draw more attention to her natural beauty. There was a certain ineffable glow to her even beyond that, declaring to the world her status as the child of a Kami. Hadananzi walks tall next to his bride. Despite the two mostly keeping their eyes forward and manner elegantly formal, he can’t seem to quite resist glancing toward her once or twice. The two are protected from the first few flakes of snow just beginning to fall by a wicker umbrella, held by an attendant behind them.

Along with them followed the Emperor and his consort, stand-ins for the parents who could not attend.

Arriving under the eaves of the shrine, they are invited inside before the eyes of Amaterasu, disappearing to leave the observers to wait with baited breath for the ceremony’s completion. A few people began to huddle together as the snow picked up slowly along with the wind, the cold biting at any uncovered skin.

Inside, the priest chanted the announcement of the couple to Amaterasu, strong voice filling the room. The braziers flickered and guttered as he did, allowing a brief breath of chilled wind to penetrate the shield of warmth they created. Nanzihime shivered briefly, but didn’t allow her eyes to waver from looking forward, watching as one of the shrine maidens prepared the sake cups, handing the first small one to Hadananzi. He waited until she filled it from a kettle, elaborately decorated with symbols of Amaterasu, then took his three sips. Nanzihime swallowed any nerves, and soon the warmed sake helped along with that as she took her three sips of the warmed liquid. They repeated the motion until it had been completed three times with a slightly larger cup each time.

She looked briefly toward Hadananzi and he gave her a reassuring, warm smile as the two of them rose and he unrolled the scroll containing the vow to Amaterasu. The rich tones of his voice seemed to echo oddly within the shrine as he spoke.

“On this great day
Before Lady Amaterasu
We are sincerely thankful for this ceremony.
Going forward we will love each other,
Trust one another,
Share the good times and the bad,
And swear that this will stay unchanged through our lifetime.
Year 25 since the Fall of the Kami, the 15th day of the month of Hisomu.
Husband.”

Nanizhime found that her voice was stronger than she expected as she followed up, saying, “Wife,” signaling her agreement to the vows to her grandmother.

From each side, shrine maidens approached them, offering each a sprig from a flowering evergreen tree. They each bowed forward to the center of the shrine and set their sprigs forward gently on the hinoki wood offering table, laying them across a silk cloth draped over it. After a brief prayer, they turned away from the table and bowed to the attendees, who each drank a small cup of sake and raised a congratulations to the wedded couple.

As everyone rose and stepped away to join the reception, few took notice of the way the leaves of one of the evergreen twigs turned black at the edges.