On reaching the bridegroom’s house, the bride is led into the toilet-room to rest herself a while and touch up her toilet. Then she is shown into the room where the wedding ceremony is to take place. The arrangement of the room varies with the school of etiquette; but usually there are offerings to the Gods on the dais of the alcove. They comprise two round cakes of pounded rice in the middle, with a stand of consecrated _sake_ a little in front on either side, and at the back a stand each of fish (a carp or _tai_) and fowl (a pheasant or snipe). There are, besides, a couple of black-lacquered cabinets with writing materials, a small wash-basin, and tea-utensils. There also stands a large flat porcelain dish with legs, on which are planted a miniature pine, bamboo, and plum-tree, with a tortoise at the base and a crane flying above. The pine, being an evergreen, signifies longevity, the bamboo, from its pliancy, gentleness, and the plum-tree, which blooms while there is yet snow on the ground, denotes fidelity in adversity. The crane which is supposed to live a thousand years and the tortoise whose life is said to last ten times as long, both symbolise longevity. In the foreground are an old couple, Takasago by name, who are the Darby and Joan of the Japanese legend, the husband with a rake and the wife with a broomstick. The whole stand is then emblematic of long life, happiness, and conjugal fidelity. [Illustration: THE WEDDING PARTY. (FROM A PICTURE BY SUKENOBU)] As soon as the bride takes her seat, the bridegroom enters and sits too, in front of her according to one school of etiquette, or beside her according to another. They are attended by waiting-women, by children, or by the go-between and his wife only. Two trays each are set before the new couple. The plats which have each a special significance it would take too much space to describe here. But the most important part of the ceremony takes place after the trays have been carried in. A set of three flatfish wooden cups are brought, and the top or smallest cup is filled with the consecrated _sake_ which has in the meantime been taken down from the dais and poured into a couple of iron or bronze pots with long handles. It is handed to the bride who drinks it; the same process is repeated twice, so that she drinks from the cup three times. Then the bridegroom, too, drinks three times from it. The second cup is next given to the bridegroom who again drinks three times and is then handed to the bride who does the same. Finally, the third and largest cup is set first before the bride and then before the bridegroom, who each again drinks three times. Thus, both the bride and the bridegroom have drunk three times from each of the three cups. This process, which is called “three times three,” constitutes the essential part of the ceremony and joins the two in wedlock. [Illustration: THE EXCHANGE OF CUPS. (FROM A PICTURE BY SUKENOBU)]