Today was the big wedding day. I got up early to get ready and did my hair before being dressed. I put flowers in my hair and with my dark eyes, hair and hoop earrings, I must admit that pre-kimono I looked more Spanish than Japanese. I met at the station with the Brackens, Chris and Chaffee. We went to the wedding place to be dressed. It took some doing. I was first of the non-Yasuko dressers. They had issues with my boobs. They had to get another special band that cost extra. Fabulous. I was bound down pretty good and for the rest of the day I had a fabric band digging in right across my nipples. It felt just dandy. The rest of the kimono experience wasn't so bad...but that strip of fabric was BRUTAL at times. So after being dressed and Robbin having her hair done we all headed downstairs where the men had been waiting for a very long time. It's not that we took longer than expected, we were right on schedule but it took like a half hour for each of us, and like an hour and a bit to dress Yasuko.
We got into taxis and headed for the shrine. The roof of the taxi opened up so they could fit Yasuko's head in the taxi. Her hair was so high and the hat thing so tall that it didn't all fit in the car so they had to take part of it off while she was in the car. All us ladies had these rope things around the seat in front of us so that we could hold onto the rope to keep us from sitting back in our seats. You don't want to squish the obi (that the big wide thing of fabric around the waist).
Once at the shrine we went into this big banquet looking room. I sat near the Brackens and I think we were all at a loss of what to do. There were some of Chris' host families at the same table as us, but most barely speak any English anymore so there wasn't a whole lot of small talk. I guess that Chris and Yasuko had to sign some stuff or something but it was a little unclear as to why we were there. We had some mochi looking things but it wasn't. They were different. Some sort of rice and anko celebration goodness. They were yummy.
Then we all set off for the actual shrine, shrine. We all lined up outside with Yasuko and Chris at the front with a big umbrella thing over them. We lined up behind the person we were there for, so Yasuko's family was behind her and we were all behind Chris. Of course there was a bit of a kuffuffle over me being at the back as the shrine people (I don't know what they're called, like nuns, but not) just saw "white girl in kimono" and figured I must be the sister so they're trying to move me around to a family spot as I'm like "Imooto janai, tomodachi desu" and the translator is trying to come to my rescue and it was all terribly annoying as it was fuss over me, which I hate anyway, at a time when all fuss should have been over Chris and Yasuko. Oh, above that means, 'I'm not the sister, I'm a friend'. So we all walked to the main shrine area then up to a side part where we took off our shoes in silence and went into one of two small doors that led into a little room. That was were the ceremony took place. There were seats on either side of the room that we sat on with Yasuko's people on one side and Chris' people on the other and Chris and Yasuko in the middle (with a few over flow of Yasuko's friends behind them as well). I don't know what went on in the ceremony but in the corner there were three guys who played these cool Japanese instruments at certain times. There was some stuff said and they sipped some sake then the parents sipped some sake (they were only supposed to sip once but Chris didn't tell them that so they did the same as Chris and Yasuko and did it three times, of course her parents were wonderful and when it was their turn, they sipped three times as well so that the Bracken's saved face) and some more words and then we prayed (clap twice, bow, clap once more). It was really cool to be a part of it. We headed outside for some pictures. We had one with all of us, then lots of Chris and Yasuko and some with their families. There were also a tonne of kids around as it was Shichi-Go-San where kids who are 7, 5 and 3 go to the shrine for blessings. They come in full traditional dress. Too cute. They were everywhere. There was also two other weddings at the shrine at the same time.
We got into taxis again and headed for the restaurant. I'll write about this later.
Chaffee and I got into a taxi for the last time today and headed back for the hotel. It was fun trying to give the taxi driver directions of where to go and then we tried to get him to stop and he wouldn't cause he thought that we were lost, but we knew exactly what we wanted to do. We dropped off some stuff and then went for a really long walk south of Kyoto station. We came across Toji temple which, I believe used to be the tallest pagoda in Japan. It may still be, I'm not sure. Maybe it's just the oldest. I'll have to look that up. We found a random art gallery and went in for a quick look then walked back to the hotel. I got in and talked to Christophe, this German guy here who wanted to see some pictures of the day. Now I'm going to hit the hay by 10:30 and sleep for as long as I can.
