San-san-kudo: shared sake in the Shinto wedding

In Japan one of the most solemn gestures of the traditional wedding is not a spoken promise but a sip of sake. Before the altar of a Shinto shrine, the bride and groom drink from three stacked cups, three sips each, nine in total. The rite is called san-san-kudo, «three three nine times», and it is the heart of the Shinto wedding ceremony.

A ceremony more recent than it seems

Surprisingly, the wedding held at a shrine, shinzen kekkon, is not very ancient in its present form. For centuries Japanese weddings took place mainly at home, as an agreement between families, with the bride moving into her husband's house and cups of sake exchanged among relatives. The ceremony before the kami, the Shinto deities, became widespread only at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The turning point is linked to the wedding of Crown Prince Yoshihito, the future Emperor Taishō, celebrated in 1900 before the shrine of the imperial palace. In the wake of that event, some Tokyo shrines began offering similar ceremonies to ordinary families, and the model prevailed over the course of the century. It is a good example of a tradition that looks ancient but has a precise date of birth.

Three cups and nine sips

During the san-san-kudo a young shrine attendant, the miko, pours sake into three shallow cups of increasing size. Bride and groom drink in turn from each, three sips apiece. The number three was considered auspicious because it cannot be split into two equal parts, and nine, the product of three times three, strengthened the wish.

Drinking from the same cup has an ancient meaning in Japanese culture, where the exchange of sake seals bonds of loyalty and alliance. In the wedding context it unites not only the two spouses but also their families: in many ceremonies, after the couple, the parents and relatives also take part in an exchange of cups. Then follow the reading of a pledge and the offering of a branch of sakaki, the sacred tree of the Shinto tradition.

The bride's white and the headdress

For the shrine ceremony the bride often wears the shiromuku, an entirely white kimono, a colour that in tradition signified purity and a new beginning. On her head she sometimes wears the tsunokakushi, a white band which, according to a popular explanation, serves to hide the «horns» of jealousy and pride, as a sign of gentleness towards her new family.

Alternatively the wataboshi is worn, a large white hood that covers almost the whole head. For the reception the bride may change, putting on a coloured kimono, the iro-uchikake, or a Western gown. In contemporary Japan, in fact, many couples choose Western-style ceremonies, but the shrine remains a much-loved choice.

The san-san-kudo shows how a simple gesture can condense a whole system of values: respect for the kami, the union of two families, the importance of auspicious numbers. And it reminds us that traditions are never static but change, sometimes taking the form we recognise today only in relatively recent times.