Thursday, November 7, 2013

The comeback of a tradition - Japanese style wedding, Shinzenshiki (Minami)


For many people, a wedding is one of the biggest and most important events in their lives.  In recent years, Japanese style weddings have been coming back in Japan.  Solemn Japanese weddings are popular today. 

This type of wedding, Shinzenshiki, is generally held in a shrine by a Shinto priest and shrine maidens.  It was the original style of weddings in Japan, and the first wedding was held in Meiji era.  After spread of Western culture throughout Japan, Shinzenshiki had been diminishing and Western style wedding had taken the place of it.  This type of wedding is held in a church by a priest.  A lot of Japanese women might be attracted to beautiful dresses and veils.  Until several years ago, gorgeous Western style weddings were general in Japan. 

However, Japanese style weddings have revived among young couples in this century.  The cause of the popularity was that the number of talents who held Japanese style weddings has been recently increasing.  Though most people might imagine a wedding in a church until then, they came to find that a Japanese style wedding was also wonderful. 

The main reason that Shinzenshiki has been popular again is that people found that kimono suit Japanese.  It seems that there are a lot of couples who would like to show guests their suited styles.  Brides can be graceful in kimono and bridegrooms can be cool in hakama. 

I think that the comeback of a Japanese style wedding is a very good thing.  It is a precious chance for people to experience traditional style events of their countries such as a wedding.  Especially, Shinzenshiki is the wedding that only couples in Japan can hold, unlike Western style wedding.  It seems that experiencing Japanese style weddings make Japanese actually realise that they are Japanese and love their country more than ever before. 

 
                                                             

5 comments:

  1. I didn't know this style of wedding was making a comeback. How great! I hope it continues. Maybe it will encourage young people to go to the shrine more often. If you get married in Japan, which style of wedding would you like?
    Ms. MacGregor

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  2. I think this comeback is a wonderful thing. There are so many things that have been westernized in Japan such as food, fashion and so on. I do not think these changes are all bad, but Shinzenshiki is one of the things which have been diminishing because of that trend. So this comeback is a great opportunity to realize the one of wonderful traditions of Japan.
    Minori

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  3. Hi this is Mayuko. These days, many thing are westernised like Minori said. So it is good to hear that Japanese style wedding has made coming-back. It will be hard for me to choose whether western or japanese style wedding!

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  4. Hello. This is Koichi.

    Actually, my cousin hold a Japanese style wedding at a shrine in Tokyo. It was great! My cousin wore white clothes like the woman in the picture is wearing.

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  5. It is really a precious opportunity for people to experience traditional style events like Shinzenshiki!
    I have watched some famous people holding Japanese style wedding ceremony on TV and famous people
    must play a big role in spreading japanese traditional wedding styles to many people.

    Yuna

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