The period of “Little Heat” had come and gone. Natsu-zemi and Min-min-zemi boomed their deafening chorus in the pines about the Shinto shrine and the rice was tall and straight in the myriad fields. The kitsunichi (lucky day) had come, and as evening fell, O-Mitsu waited in her pure white robe the coming of the friends who were to bear her away to her husband. Presently the little group set out, and in a few moments the house in Azalea Street had received its new mistress.
When she had changed to the beautiful new dress of softest silk Soichi had given her, she sat down with him and drank the san-san ku-do that made her his wife. Three times from each of the three cups she sipped the sake and passed the cup to him. Then, husband and wife, they joined the friends assembled in the wide rooms for the feast that crowned the day. And among those guests none were more honored than Kudo Jukichi and his son. The proud old Samurai had taken the last step, and become in fact as well as in law, a citizen of the new Empire.