Roxana-Mălina Chirilă

heian period

Three nights of sex, one morning of rice cakes: Marriage in old Japan

Marriage in the Christian world is a pretty clear thing: you go to a priest and there’s a ceremony. Ritual things are said and done – and at the end, you’re married. The secular marriage us Westerners have is pretty much the same: you go to someone, declare your intent and then, through the power invested in the ritual by tradition and common convention, you’re married. In old Japan, things were… different?