San San

In the "Place of Awe," in the Kashi-kodokoro, where rests the sacred metal mirror of the Divine Ancestress, they married.

The spirits of 123 dead emperors were watching, and the Sun Goddess Amaterasu-0-Makimi listened to the young Prince as he spoke the name of his bride. Then Prince and bride exchanged the San-san-kudo, the "three times three," each drinking three times of sake (rice wine) from each of three divine cups. Then they spoke to the ancestors, and the marriage was complete.

Thereafter Prince and Princess stepped from the holy quiet of the Kashikodo-koro, (where only the ancestors, the Emperor, and a few of the Imperial House may enter) into the sudden blazing sunshine of the city, Tokyo. A joyous roar of Banzai greeted them, for 60,000 persons had stood impatient in the heat, waiting to cheer.

All Japan paid joyous homage, for the bridegroom is Yasuhito, Chichibu-No-Miya, 26,--Prince and heir-presumptive to the Throne;* and the bride is Setsuko Matsudaira, 19, daughter of popular Tsuneo Matsudaira, who was Japan's Ambassador at Washington until he went home for the Imperial Marriage.

The Imperial couple's new home, with its high roof, its stucco walls, its stone front, is more an English mansion than a Japanese residence. Within, awaiting them, were the ancient customary gifts: the Tai, king of fishes, the cask of purified sake, the hemp, incense, seaweed. There also was the bride's elaborate trousseau, including many a Parisian gown. Throughout the house sprawled electricity, plumbing. And further, Prince and Princess had gone to live in their very own home, not in the old fashioned way to the home of the bridegroom's parents. Further the Princess is not of imperial blood which formerly would have made her unfit for the Prince's hand. For these reasons and because they had married for love, like the reigning Emperor Hirohito (TIME, Feb. 4, 1924), the new Imperial couple symbolize the twilight end of ancient Japanese marriage customs, and point to the rising sun of modernity in Japan.

Although by their marriage last week the Prince and his Princess seemed elevated above the rank of ordinary mortals, both are well known and popular in Europe and the U. S.

Prince Chichibu, short, lithe, athletic, sallow-skinned, once studied at Oxford. During his vacations he scampered up Swiss Alps, peered from mountain tops through his owlish tortoise shell spectacles.

Princess Setsuko was a bright student at a Quaker school in Washington. Often she sped in her automobile on Washington's broad avenues. She played tennis or swam at exclusive country clubs. Often she dances. She likes jazz.

*Because Prince Chichibu is the next in line to Emperor Hirohito who has no male issue.