When A Man Wishes To
Marry He Thinks Of Some Particular Girl, And Asks The Chief If He
May Ask For Her.
If leave is given, either through a "go-between"
or personally, he asks her father for her, and if he consents the
bridegroom gives him a present, usually a Japanese "curio." This
constitutes betrothal, and the marriage, which immediately follows,
is celebrated by carousals and the drinking of much sake.
The
bride receives as her dowry her earrings and a highly ornamented
kimono. It is an essential that the husband provides a house to
which to take his wife. Each couple lives separately, and even the
eldest son does not take his bride to his father's house. Polygamy
is only allowed in two cases. The chief may have three wives; but
each must have her separate house. Benri has two wives; but it
appears that he took the second because the first was childless.
[The Usu Ainos told me that among the tribes of Volcano Bay
polygamy is not practised, even by the chiefs.] It is also
permitted in the case of a childless wife; but there is no instance
of it in Biratori, and the men say that they prefer to have one
wife, as two quarrel.
Widows are allowed to marry again with the chief's consent; but
among these mountain Ainos a woman must remain absolutely secluded
within the house of her late husband for a period varying from six
to twelve months, only going to the door at intervals to throw sake
to the right and left.
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