Naoki and Akifs wedding (June 4, 2005)

Naoki's wedding was cerebrated with solemnity at Minatogawa shrine in Kobe, Japan on the 4th of June, 2005. It was very beautiful day. The followed wedding party was also very nice with all smiles.

Wedding Ceremony
The wedding ceremony was held at the main sanctuary of Minatogawa shrine.
Naoki and Aki sweard their eternal love in front of the Masashigefs spirit.
San san kudo (3, 3, 9 times in Japanese) , when the bride and bridegroom drink sacred sake together,
is also an important ceremony.
Kagura(movie) , sacred music and dance, was held by sacred girls at the main sanctuary during the ceremony
( Kagura, another part(movie) ).
After the ceremony, Aki and Naoki walked to the hall for the party
( scene 1, scene 2, scene 3, scene 4, and scene 5).

Wedding Party
Many pictures were taken with parents , relatives and friends when everybody waited the start of the party. The party started, Aki and Naoki walked in, made a bow and the party started . First Naoki made a speech . Then Prof. Sadanori Okamura (Naoki’s thesis adviser) celebrated their marriage, with a lot of warm jokes on Naoki ( smiles ). Then Kagami biraki (movie)( a picture ), opening a big sake barrel, was made by Aki and Naoki for toast. Then Dr.Shin-ichi Ichikawa, Naoki’s Sake (or alcohol) adviser did a toast. Then Aki’s relative composed a Tanka , a Japanese poem of thirty one syllables. Aki and Naoki changed their clothes to the western style and cut a wedding cake. Children also celebrated Aki and Naoki. Unfortunately the battery of my camera was over. In any case it was very warm and nice party with a lot of smiles and sake . Acutually Naoki smiled and laughed a few orders of magnitude more than I have ever seen in a day. Congratulations, Aki and Naoki!

Minatogawa Shrine (for those who are interested in history and different culture)
The wedding was celebrated at Minatogawa Shrine just a few minutes walk from Kobe railway station. The spirit of the shrine is Masahige Kusunoki who was a great brilliant samurai who helped emperorfs family in the 14th century. Masashige, who once succeeded to recover emperorfs power, was finally lost and was killed at the Minatogawa battle by Takauji Ashikaga, who started Muromachi period as a Shogun. The grave of Masashige was found in the 16th century and the shrine was built at the current location in 1692 by a vice shogun of Edo period, Mitsukuni Tokugawa. At Meiji revolution in the 19th century, when the emperorfs family became the symbol of the revolution, Masashige was awarded a high official rank (Sei-sanmi, the fifth highest official rank), the characters are carved in a stone monument ), and the government supported Minatogawa shrine intensively. Just right to the front gate of Minatogawa shrine, there is the grave of Masashige Kusunoki. The main part of the grave is a stone monument , the Chinese characters of which were written in 1692 by a vice shogun of Edo period, Mitsukuni Tokugawa. There are several gates in Minatogawa shrine, such as the gate for the grave, the second gate, the third gate, and others . Masashige used many Oxes with torches for a night battle to imitate many fighters...