Japan: Shinto wedding Photo

Photographer’s Note

"Copyright © – Attila Szili.
The reproduction, publication, modification, transmission or exploitation of any work contained herein for any use, personal or commercial, without my prior written permission is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved."

Taken in the town of Uji, while visiting the Ujigami shrine, one of the two local UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Uji is a city on the southern outskirts of the city of Kyoto. Founded in 1951, Uji is located between the two ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto. The city sits on the Uji River, which has its source in Lake Biwa. Uji has an estimated population of 193,020 and is the second largest city in Kyoto prefecture.
Ujigami shrine is considered to be the oldest original Shinto shrine architecture built around 1060. Combined with the adjacent Uji Shrine, it had been called Rikukamisha until the Meiji Period (1868-1912).
A Shinto wedding ceremony is presided by a Shinto priest in the sanctuary of the shrine. It is witnessed only by family members, close relatives and the nakoudo. The ceremony starts with a purification ritual for all present, using a special branch called narai-gushi. After this, he invokes on the gods to bestow their blessings on the couple.
The bride wears an exquisite kimono called shiro-maku, made of snowy white silk. Her hair is swept up in a traditional style and held with combs and ornaments called kanzashi. Her face is painted a creamy white. Lastly, she wears on her head a white hood called tsuno-kakushi, which literally means “hiding the horns”. This hood symbolizes her faithfulness and obedience to her husband. The groom wears a montsuki kimono with a short haori overcoat with the family crest and hakama pants.
Leading the group on the photo are the miko.
The miko tradition dates back to the ancient eras of Japan. In ancient times, women who went into trances and conveyed prophecy or the words of the gods were called miko. Later, miko were young female attendants at Shinto shrines. They were often the daughter(s) of the priest who presided over a given shrine. Roles of the miko included performing in ceremonial dances (miko-mai) and assisting priests in various ceremonies, especially weddings. The tradition continues and today miko can be found at many Shinto shrines. In modern times most miko are part-time employees or volunteers. Their duties include assisting with shrine functions, performing ceremonial dances, offering Omikuji (a type of fortune telling), and staffing shrine shops.

daddo, PixelTerror, grigand, Budapestman, lasscor, bobocortis, flory, Wanda1, tomescuc, edytungkal, vinicio, Tue, actagaudi, Cricri, parbo, Buin, jaywalker, paololg, josepmarin, wishlist, Jakab, dip, ocskaymarci, paura, axiotea ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

daddo (11335) 2008-05-18 4:59

Zdravo Attila prijatelju. I see that you are continuing in your peregrinations. Japan, you fortunate fellow. And what a lovely shot- so Japanese, steeped in tradition, minus all the western trappings. great to see.I take my hat off to the Japanese in that they did not sell their soul to the West for the dollar.Beautiful colours, light and POV with which to capture this solemn moment. Regards. Klaudio.

PixelTerror (86282) 2008-05-18 5:12

Attila-san kon nichi wa,
Lucky you who travelled to Japan recently, I'm so envious ;-)
You got here to capture a very nice scene full of LATW value, brilliant colors and exact framing, fine action going on and not even a big background tori is missing, I like it a lot !
Have a nice sunday JY

grigand (12658) 2008-05-18 6:21

Ciao Attila,
Scatto interessante con una luce e colori perfetti, bravo.
Ciao
andrea

Budapestman (42188) 2008-05-18 6:38

Szia Attila,
Gyönyörű ünnepi fotó nagyszerű kompozicíóval. Nagyon tetszenek az eskövői ruhák és az élénk színek. Csodálatos hangulat. Gratulálok! Szép vasárnapot és fényeket!
Gyuri

macondo (13141) 2008-05-18 7:04

Hello Attila.
Wonderful composition, and the sharpness and colour are superb. I like the view of the procession coming straight towards the camera and the wonderful green background to the reds and whites. You have done a great job here.
Regards,
Andrew

Gustaw (21670) 2008-05-18 7:26

Hi, my friend!
I see very interesting photo from Japan. I like your ceremony. Good colours and nice composition. I like your light. Well done. Interesting note.
Marek

lasscor (7637) 2008-05-18 7:33

Hi Attila,
Lovely wedding procession.
Wonderful traditional costumes.
TFS,
Corinne

bobocortis (14142) 2008-05-18 9:55

Ciao Attila.
Contrasto perfetto che riproduce perfettamente luci ed ombre. Accostamento di colori (rosso-bianco-nero-verde) eccezionale.
Il colore rosso, in particolare, si ripete in vari elementi della foto.
Bravissimo, ciao.
Bobo.

flory (4804) 2008-05-18 22:34

szia dear Attila,
you always come with special images from your trips!can't guess what will be the next destination..:)
well framed this image and fascinating for me,them ceremonies..
take care,
Flori:)

Wanda1 (11001) 2008-05-18 22:34

Hi Attila,
A beautiful shot capturing this traditional wedding. I like the red colour everywhere tying the image together...from the ladies dresses in front to the umbrella to the red structure in the background, all contrasting with the lush green. Vertical format works really well too.
Regards
Wanda

edytungkal (4519) 2008-05-19 0:33

A perfect and well balance composition to showing the Japanese traditional wedding, i like the contrast colours between the costumes against the green nature colour around. It sounds that you have a nice week in Japan, Attila...thanks for showing this :-)

greetings
daniel

vincz (19043) 2008-05-19 1:41

Great choice of the vertical format. All looks so formal here this is amazing. I love the contrasting reds and greens. Very well done.

vinicio (22414) 2008-05-19 4:53

La felicità non traspare dai volti delle persone oppure erano infastitidi dalla tua presenza, ma i colori e la scena sono belli, bravo Attila, complimenti.
Buona settimana
Ciao
Vinicio

Tue (25608) 2008-05-19 5:04

Hi Attila,
A very interesting photo of this wedding ceremony. Very good capture with a good vertical composition, pleasant colours and an enhancing light. Very well done!
Regards,
Lars

Cricri (43220) 2008-05-19 7:15

Hi Attila,
Une trés belle image de ce grand événement avec une note intéressante, beaucoup de jolis détails et de couleurs, bon format aussi
Have a nice day for you
cricri

parbo (10970) 2008-05-20 7:16

Hi Attila,

Your series are going perfectly as same your wonderful photos. Great one again with excellent information. Red and white colors are very attractive in the middle of typical, harsh Japanese green. I'm still curios about their slipper while wearing socks. Because here also slippers are cheapest (one euro) and comfortable foot ware for barefoot in tropical weather. Congratulations.

Friendly Regards,

Ertugrul

Buin (37834) 2008-05-21 9:52

Hallo Attila!
What a ceremony! These people all look very dignified and grave. Quite different from a wedding here. You show this ceremony in a wonderful light and the colours are simply gorgeous. A wonderful and impressive photo!
Greetings from sunny and warm Germany!
Frank

jaywalker (12190) 2008-05-22 11:24

Hi Attila, A very nice capture of this wedding, the costumes are beautiful &, what gorgeous surroundings, the perfect POV & a wonderful moment, kind regards Wilson.

paololg (13787) 2008-05-22 13:53

Ciao Attila,
ottima immagine, con il rosso che contrasta bene con il bianco e il verde. Curiose le espressioni dei personaggi, che fanno capire che in quel momento ognuno di loro pensava ad una cosa diversa. Molto interessanti le tue note che spiegano la cerimonia. Eccellente lavoro.
Ciao
Paolo.

manada (6237) 2008-05-24 3:21

Grande Attila
i tuoi scatti e le tue note sono davvero interessanti.
Sono contento di averti come preferito!
Un abbraccio
Freddy

josepmarin (33837) 2008-05-25 9:42

Hi Attila,
This photo is perfect and really it shows us a ceremony that we do not know, in the authentic spirit of TE.
It is very nice to learn of other cultures and other beliefs, and your photo is perfect for this.
I like the elegance and seriousness of the scene, caught with a great light and a few magnificent colors.
A good work, my friend.
Best regards,
Josep

wishlist (4133) 2008-05-26 4:39

Ciao Attila,
guardando questa foto mi sembra quasi di essere li ad assistere al passaggio di questa bellissima cerimonia, che non so perche' mi immagino immersa in un profondo silenzio. Ottima la qualita', come sempre, per questa foto che emana un gran fascino ed un sapore antico seppure nel suo formato a colore.
Ciao e buona settimana

Igor

p.s: per ottobre ti faccio sapere quanto prima. Dovrei avere le date certe entro 3/4 settimane.

Jakab (3470) 2008-05-26 12:50

Szia Attila!
Szó, ami szó, inne nézve nagyon különös látvány ez az esküvői menet násznép nélkül, komoly, szinte bánatos arcokkal. Végtére is, ahány ház, annyi szokás. A ceremónia színvilága (beleértve a környezetet is) viszont nagyon tetszik. Megint valami olyant kaptam Tőled - a szokott igényes kivitelben -, amiről eddig fogalmam sem volt.
Köszönöm!
Laci

dip (12660) 2008-05-27 12:48

Hi Attila,
this is a wonderful composition with great clarity and sharpness,amazing colors and very interesting theme,
very well done!
Dimitris.

ocskaymarci (2508) 2008-05-27 13:59

Nagy elemeny lehetett egy ilyen hagyomanyos ceremoniat latni!
Nagyon tetszik a kompozicio es a perspektiva is, ahogy a ket "koszoruslany" felvezeti az ifju part.
Remek kep, gratulalok!
Marci

paura (38626) 2008-05-27 15:38

Atilla,
More than interesting "people" view here, friend. The vivid details are really interesting.

well done!

Paulo

axiotea (16145) 2008-05-29 7:41

Hello Atus
A judicious POV allowing to see perfectly the couple, both very graceful, and naturally framed in between the 'miko', with the husband holding the red umbrella (a nice detail)...you have framed and exposed really well the entire scene...
The forest and the red entrance are providing a perfect BG.
Cheers
Marilyn

Photo Information

Copyright: Attila Szili (atus) (15476)
Genre: Gente
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-04-29
Categories: Ceremonias, Eventos, Momento Irrepetible
Camera: Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED AF-S VR, Hoya 72mm SuperHMC Pro 1 UV
Exposición: f/10.0, 1/400 segundos
More Photo Info: view
Versión de la foto: Versión original
Date Submitted: 2008-05-18 4:49
Favoritos: 1 [Ver]