The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-03-04

The young Prince is popular in Toxic,
He has been educated in the Mobiles
School and has shown himself as smart
as other boys of his age He has had
modern educatio as well as the old Jap
anese studies, and knows something Of
German and English, but not enough to
speak them. He is a fairly good French
scholar, and converses in that language
with foreigners He is affable and dip
lomatic, and will make, it is thought,
Sood Emperor.
The wedding will join TWO of the oldest
families of japan, or, rather, it will
bring branches of the same family to-
gether, for the Prince and his bride are
cousins. His blood is, perhaps shade
bIuer than hers, although she can trace
her ancestors farther back than any SOW
ereign who now sits upon a throne IN
Christendon. Princess Sada Kujo Is the
third daughter of the famous Fujiwara
family, which was the controlling power
in Japan from the seventh to the eleven
tn century. During those years the EN-
perors were little more than puppets,
managed by the Fujiwaras, who made
and strengthened their hold on the power
by marrying their daughters to the EN-
perors. The daughters were in these ca
ses often the power behind the throne.
By the laws Of Japan the Emperor must
be a descendant of this family, or, rather
he must marry into one of the five noble
families of Japan, all of which have come
from the ancient Fujlwaras. The Prin-
cess mother was sister of the late En-
press Dowager. which makes her a cousin
of her future husband
The princess genealogical tree thus
dates back to about "A D. $50. The
Prince Imperial can 40 as well, and go
her about 1,00 years better, and if any
unpleasantness happens in the family, can
taunt her with not knowing her grand
fathers further back than thousand
years. His ancestry, according to Jap
anese history, begins with Jimmu Ten
no, who ruled Japan 600 B. c., or long be-
fore Rome became an empire
But let me tell you something about
this young lady who is to be the future
Empress of Japan. We would call her
girl rather than a lady if she were in
the United States. She is only fifteen.
and last year she was trotting around on
her little Japanese shoes to and from the
Empress school. She was in the third
grade of the high school there when she
was told one day that the Emperor had
picked her out to be the wife of the
Prince Imperial, and that she must leave
the publicity of her present method of
education and be taught for the next few
months at home. How She received the
news 1 do not know. [ suppose, however,
like any good Japanese girl would do, she
smiled and consented without a murlnur.
Her parents celebrated her leaving school
by giving a dinner of thanks to her
teachers. The Princess saba insisted
that her classmates should also be invit-
ed, and they came to the number of twen-
ty.
From one Of the native Japanese pa
pers 1 have had translated some inter-
estlng details of the school life and
studies of Princess Sada. She entered
the school in the Kindergarten classes
and has been there ever since. She has
always been regular in her attendance
and has uniformly stood high in her
classes. She loved her school and was a
general favOrite with her fellows. She
usually walked to and from school, ex-
cept in very bad weather, and engaged
in all the plays. She has always been
robust and strong, and her good health
is one of the most important eonsidera-
tions as to her marriage. Just now she
is most carefully watched and urged not
to do anything that may endanger her
health. Her studies on this account have
been lessened and her hours of exercise
and rest have been increased.
The princess is well advanced for her
age. When she left school her chief
studies were Japanese and Chinese liter
allure, universal history, French, mathe-
mates. penmanship, and drawing. She
has dropped everything but her history,
geography, and French, and is devodng
more time to her music. She now has
private tutors. who come to her house to
teach her. The princess is noted for her
poetic ability She writes beautifully,
and her cherry tree illusions are said to
be especially fine. In both music and po-
etry she will vie with the present EN-
press, who is noted as one of the most
beautiful writers of japanese poems Her
Imperial Majesty displayed remarkable
poetic ability when she was as yonug as
the Princess Sada and her sonnets are
now celebrated in the Japanese Iitera-
ture of the age.
Baron Sannomiya tells me that it has
not been decided what the wedding cere-
mony will be nor whether 1t will be af-
ter the style of the old Japan or a new
form gotten up by the advisers of the
imperial household and the Emperor to
suit the new conditions. If it is accord
ing to the Old forms her Royal Highness
and the prince will dress for it in Japan
csc costume, the princess wearing about
thirteen silk garments, one over the
other, and going through several changes
of clothes before the wedding is accom-
plished. in ordinary Japanese weddings
no ring is used and no promises are made
by the pair as to fidelity. obedience, etc.
The wedding consists of the drinking Of
number of cups of Japanese wine or
sak together in a certain way.
1t takes place at the house of the pa
rents Of the groom. and in this case it
viii be performed in the palace of the
Emperor. The rules of etiquette in such
! events are very minute. and everything
must be done just so. The bride gets the
/ first drink and the groom follows after
! The cups in which the wine is served
are very small. and the princess Will
/ drink three of them before the prince
/ viii be served with the same number.
/ After this there is more drinking in about
/ the same way. the bride always being
served first. This is in contrast with the
custom after marriage. where the hus-
/ band is always served before the wife.
/ At the beginning OF the wedding ceremo-
! MES the bride IS dressed in white but
when the ceremony is over she retires
and changes her costume for one which