Asiatic Quarterly Review (Full Title: The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review, and Oriental and Colonial Record): Volume XIII, No. 26 [‎500r] (124/238)

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Japanese Monographs.
the house of the middleman and his wife, and in their
presence ; or a young lady would, by means of her mirror,
concealed in the folds of her kimino, steal a passing vision
of her future lord when he came to pay his visit of introduc
tion to her parents ; otherwise they did not meet till the
wedding-day.
Many accomplishments came into the requirements of a
finished education : embroidery, the arrangement of flowers,
rearing and tending household pets, a good knowledge of
botany, of fencing, the management of a house and house
hold, dexterity in games of chance and skill, a fair knowledge
of the works of celebrated authors, the composition of
poetry, and numerous other means of beguiling weary
hours for self and others within the home enclosure.
Alteration in dress, of colour and shape, the method of
arranging the obe, or sash, and especially in the elaborate
coiffure and the choice of ornaments displayed in the hair,
denoted that the musume, or marriageable daughter, had
arrived at that stage of her existence when her parents
would be willing to part with their dearest treasure, if any
suitable alliance could be entertained. This prospect was
not altogether the fulfilment of a delightful dream. It was
a duty on the part of the parents to provide for the future
of their offspring, and a sterner duty on the part of the
maiden to obey and abide by the parents’ decision. It was
by no means a temporary separation : it signified entire
resignation to all future rights and claims ; for from the
moment the daughter left the parental roof she was as dead
to her home as if she had ceased to exist. And in order to
impress this state of things on both parties a curious
ceremony ensued.
Enveloped in a robe of the finest white, the prescribed
funeral colour and fashion, the maiden was borne out of her
father’s house as a corpse, quietly resting upon a bier or litter.
This burden was entrusted to bearers selected from each
family, whose duty it was to introduce her to her future
home, where other relations conjointly awaited her arrival.
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