Note 18 — OUR DEPARTURE

The farewell cup of water (mizu-sakazuki, “water-wine-cup”), to which reference is made frequently in Lieutenant Sakurai’s story, is a religious ceremony, probably of Shinto origin, of the nature of a sacrament. At the moment of death, the nearest relative present administers water to the dying person, an act of purification for the next life. Hence, on the departure of any member of the family on an errand to which he has vowed his life, the farewell cup that is given him is not the saké, typifying joy and good-fellowship, but water, the symbol of purification. In one of the Japanese classical dramas, Taikoki, the scenes of which are laid in the time of Hideyoshi, the Taiko (1582–98 d.d.), a young man is about to depart on a forlorn hope, with the certainty of ending his life in battle. He is betrothed, and before he leaves his home the wedding is celebrated; but the marriage cup which bride and bridegroom share is filled with water instead of saké, as a sign that the union is not for this life but for the next. The bridegroom leaves immediately after the ceremony and dies fighting; the young wife at once commits suicide and rejoins him in the new life to which they pledged themselves in the “death-cup” of their wedding-day.