=Marriage.= A young woman in Japan was expected as a matter of course to marry. Any young woman was not forced to marry any young man, for there was a certain freedom of choice on her part. Young people were expected to marry within their rank. In the early times, marriage between a brother and sister of the same mother was not permitted, but if by the same father by a different mother they could marry, as they were not considered related as in the first instance. In these earlier times marriage was permitted at sixteen in man and thirteen in woman. Marriage was not a religious affair, and not even a contract between the parties. It was rather a giving away of the girl to the man who was to be her husband and to his family, so that the bride's person and property passed completely under the control of the husband and his family. At one time, according to one authority, when a youth had fixed his affections upon a maiden of suitable condition, he disclosed his passion by attaching a branch of a certain shrub (the _Celastrus alatus_) to the house of the damsel's parents. If this emblem of his passion was neglected, it implied that his suit was rejected; if accepted, so was the lover; and should the young lady wish to express reciprocal tenderness, she forthwith blackened her teeth, though she must not pluck out her eyebrows until after the wedding.[113] In other times, the affair was arranged by a go-between. A young man would get a married friend to help him select a bride, to make his wants known to the girl and her family, and to arrange a meeting between the young people at the home of a mutual friend, where they could decide the matter. Again the matter may have been arranged by the families, it might be a long time in advance, so that the young people did not have much to do with it. When the matter was decided on, then presents were exchanged, the young man usually sending a piece of handsome silk, used for the _obi_ or girdle, which corresponded to the engagement-ring of Europe and America, but sometimes the young man sent other presents, and because of which a handsome daughter was considered rather an addition to the fortune of a family. A formal betrothal was then entered into, and a lucky day found for the wedding. Just before the wedding, generally on the morning of the wedding-day, the bride's trousseau and the household goods, which the bride was expected to take with her, were sent to the house of the bridegroom. These varied according with the rank and position and wealth of the bride's family. The trousseau would contain dresses for all seasons and sashes of all kinds, and since fashion unchanged a woman might enter her husband's home with a supply of clothing that could last her through a lifetime.