Shinto Wedding in Kamakura – Tsurugaoka Hachimangu

Almost every time I visit the grand shrine in Kamakura, the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu there seems to be a wedding going on. It’s a great opportunity to see the finest kimono and listen to the thousand of years old ceremonial music being played live. I caught this ceremony a couple of days ago, the bride looked really nervous as she was taking instructions from the priest assistants. Since it’s currently Golden Week here in Japan the shrine was packed with tourists and visitors enjoying the great weather and that in itself should be enough to make any bride nervous! The groom looked much more relaxed. It’s not all that common to see these traditional ceremonies performed out in the open, usually they are confined to the inner sanctum of the shrines. At most you can see the traditional wedding parade if you visit places like the Meiji Jingu in central Tokyo, but this shrine in Kamakura (Kanagawa prefecture) is one of the best for seeing traditional weddings!

A Japanese Wedding

In Kamakura’s Tsurugaoka Hachimangu I walked past this wedding ceremony taking place. It was a bit more traditional than even most weddings so I had to take a few photos of the ceremony. The fact that the young bride was stunningly beautiful in her traditional dress did nothing to stop me from taking even more photos. Beauty like hers should be shared with the world. Someday, perhaps I will have a wedding that is one tenth as beautiful as this. Who knows? Enjoy!