小川：新郎は秀才で新婦は才媛、きっと良いご家庭を築かれるものと思っております。
友人：（独り言）どうして、あんな型にはまったあいさつをするんだろう。退屈で誰も聞いていないのに。
Kata ni hamaru/kata ni hameru
(Kekkon-hirooen de)
Ogawa: Shinroo wa shuusai de shinpu wa saien, kitto yoi go-katei wo kizukareru mono to omotte orimasu.
Yujin: (Hitori-goto) Doo shite, anna kata ni hamatta aisatsu wo surun daroo. Taikutsu de dare mo kiite inai no ni.
(At a wedding reception)
Ogawa: The bridegroom is a bright man and the bride is an exceptional woman. I feel sure that they will meet with every success in building a happy home together.
Friend: (To himself) Why does he have to make such a stuffy, routine speech? Nobody is listening because ifs so boring.
Kata ni hamaru means sticking to convention and traditional patterns, suggesting that something is stereotyped, routine and manneristic. The transitive form of this verb is kata ni hameru.
An expression with the opposite meaning is kata wo yaburu, literally break tradition.
At a wedding reception I'm attending, someone is in the middle of a long, tedious speech. It usually happens that the higher-ranking senior guests give their speeches at the beginning of the proceedings, leaving the guests poised over their meals as they listen.
It would be rude, they figure, to eat while their superior is speaking. So they end up sitting and looking at the soup getting cold. "... And it was oxtail soup, too!"
Koo iu baai wa kata ni hamaranai mijikai supiichi ga ii (On occasions like this, short, original speeches are best).
It's much more fun to hear the groom's immediate boss telling gossipy anecdotes about him with a touch of humor.
The guests burst into a laughter at some anecdotes, whose light tone suggests the friendly ties between the groom and his boss. I hear a guest sitting next to me whisper to his company, kare mo ii jooshi wo motte shiawase da na. (He must be happy with such a good boss.)
Toward the end of the reception the couple make their parting speech. Watashi-tachi wa kata ni hamaranai, jiyuu na iki-kata wo tanoshinde ikitai to omoi masu. (We'd like to enjoy a life free from all conventional ideas and practices.) Hearing that, however, makes me worried. Muri ni jibun-tachi no seikatsu wo kata ni hameru koto wa nai. (There's no need for you to follow a rigorously traditional life.)
But it wouldn't be easy for the: couple to live harmoniously with; others in this society if they pursue their way too vigorously.
At any rate, I wish them both a bright and happy future togetherfor many years to come.