| GUNMA, Jun. 4 – On June 2, in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture, five married couples participated in a joint wedding ceremony followed by a mud run in their wedding attire at a rice field. Approximately 1,300 guests celebrated the couples with big smiles and clapping as the brides’ pure white wedding dresses turned “colored” in the mud.
This event was part of the 19th Yoshii Mud Festival, which aimed to strengthen community bonds between parents and children. One of the organizers, Shigenari Okabe (69), proposed holding the wedding ceremony for couples who were already married but had not held their ceremonies. The couples who participated in activities headed to the rice field after some activities like cake cutting and a vegetable bouquet toss. Many struggled to navigate through the mud and fell, but all ran approximately 21 meters to reach the finish line. Shunya (31) and Miyuki (30) Zenyoji married during the COVID-19 pandemic without holding a wedding ceremony. “I will never forget how I fell and was dragged in the mud, and it will be a great fun story always to remember,” Miyuki said and smiled. “This experience strengthened our bond further,” Shunya said happily.  Couples in their wedding attire enjoyed a mud run hand in hand in the rice field after the wedding ceremony (in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture) |