The Shinto wedding
A Shinto wedding is something you do not see every day, unless of course, you spend a lot of time in Japanese Shinto shrines. I happened to almost literally walk right into this procession on my visit to the famous Fushimi-Inari Shrine in Kyoto.
Shinto weddings have been around since 1880. It became popular in 1900, after the marriage of Crown Prince Yoshihito and his bride, Princess Kujo Sadako. The priests called “Kannushi”, are easily recognizable with their distinct hats and shoes. Today the number of Shinto weddings are in decline, as fewer and fewer people are getting married in Japan. Most of the people who marry chose to do this in a western-style wedding.
