Page:A Daughter of the Samurai.pdf/188

162 followed I heard for the first time that in this country the custom is for the worded request always to come from the man.

“It is like the folk tale that tells of the origin of our race,” I said.

“That sounds as if it might be more interesting than the court items in the newspaper,” laughed Mother. “Suppose you tell me about it.”

“It’s rather a long story from the beginning,” I said; “but the important part is that a god and goddess named Izanagi and Izanami—our Adam and Eve—came from Heaven on a floating bridge and formed the islands of Japan. Then they decided to remain and build themselves a home. So they went to the Heavenly Post for the ceremony of marriage. The bride starting from the right and the bridegroom from the left, they walked around the Heavenly Post. When they met on the other side, the goddess exclaimed:

“&thinsp;‘Thou beautiful god!’

“The god was displeased and said the bride had spoiled the ceremony, as it was his place to speak first. So they had to begin again. The goddess started again from the right of the Heavenly Post, and the god from the left; but this time, when they met, the goddess did not speak until she was spoken to.

“&thinsp;‘Thou beautiful goddess!’ Izanagi said.

“&thinsp;‘Thou beautiful god!’ replied Izanami.

“As this time the ceremony was properly performed, the husband and the wife built themselves a home, and from them came the nation of Japan.”

“So it seems that Japanese and American marriages were originally not so unlike, after all,” said Mother.

One of the most surprising things in America to me was the difficulty and often impossibility of my being able to do, as a wife, the very things for which I had been