Quite a lot of jinja perform wedding ceremonies, in which the couple announce their vows to one another in front of the kami. This is, in Shinto terms, a relatively recent custom, with barely more than a century of history, and it has no connection with the legal procedures for marrying. (That is true of any ceremony in Japan. The legal procedures involve submitting a form to your local city office, and you do not even need to submit it in person.) As it is relatively new, it is not uncommon for jinja to incorporate unique features, and an article in the May 19th issue of Jinja Shinpō (神社新報) introduced another.
The article is about Kanegasakigū (金崎宮) in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture. The jinja was founded in the late nineteenth century to enshrine an Imperial prince who had died fighting the first Ashikaga shōgun in the early fourteenth century. It has now reinvented itself as a romance jinja, something that the jinja bases on a legend about the prince.
The precincts are also famous for their cherry blossoms, with about a thousand trees, and they have had an annual event called the “flower exchange festival” (花換祭) (probably “hanakaë matsuri”, but I haven’t found an official reading for the festival name), at which it seems cherry blossoms are handed out. (The jinja website does not give details of what is done.)
This has been incorporated into their wedding ceremonies. Shinto weddings often include a ceremony of drinking sakë three times from three cups, with variations in the detail. At this jinja, this is called the “Time Binding Ceremony” (時結びの儀), and the three drinks are associated with the past, present, and future. The bride and groom then exchange rings (a western import, but almost universal these days), before the new feature — the “Flower Exchange Ceremony” (花換の儀). At this point, judging from the photograph, the bride and groom exchange small branches with cherry blossoms on, to symbolise their vows. The chief priest was quoted as saying that he wants to extend this to other times of the year, with new green leaves or autumn leaves. (In winter, they could use pine, which has a lot of romantic associations in Japanese history, although he didn’t mention that.)
The same issue, on the same page, reported on two Shinto weddings performed at the Osaka•Kansai Expo, organised by Sumiyoshi Taisha (住吉大社) in Osaka. A sacred space was set up within the Expo grounds, and two couples married with a large audience. Ninety couples applied, and the two selected were an international couple (Japanese and American) and a couple who both work for the Expo.
The kami were called down to the ceremony, so these were “weddings before the kami” (神前式), which is the formal name for Shinto weddings, even though they were not conducted in a jinja.
Shinto wedding ceremonies include all the elements of a standard formal prayer, but almost always have additional elements as well. Those additional elements are particularly variable between jinja, and I would not be surprised to hear about other new ideas in the future.
I’ve heard that when you register your marriage at the City Office, they give you a potted plant which seems Shinto inspired.
We didn’t get a potted plant!
I would expect that sort of thing to depend on the municipality.