When we drive by Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo
for area tour with clients from overseas,
we are often asked about Japanese funeral.

So this is about typical Japanese funeral style:

Tsuya (a wake) is held the night before the deceased
is buried.  Relatives and close friends spend the last night
with the corpse, praying for the soul of the departed.

The body is laid out with head to the north.
A picture of the deceased and heaping bowl of rice
with chopsticks stuck vertically into it are set on an altar.
A buddhist priest offers sutras, and the deceased is
given an honorary Buddhist name.











Black-and-white striped curtains and wreaths
donated by friends and relatives are put up for
the Kokubetsushiki (the final farewell ceremony).

Mourners proceed one by one to the altar, press their
palms together in prayer and burn pinches of incense.

Finally, the nails of the coffin lid are pounded shut with a
stone and it is put into the hearse.







At the crematorium, relatives and friends gather the
cinders of bone with chopsticks and put them in an
urn which is later buried in a tomb.

In parts of the country where it is still customary to bury
the dead uncremated, the body is taken to the cemetery
in a funeral procession.

Usually mourners wear black, and men, black neckties.
Traditionally they bring Okouden (incense money) to the
dead person's home.  Returning home after the funeral,
they purify themselves at the entrance with a sprinkling
of salt.

Nowadays the entire funeral is managed by a professional
undertaker.  While funerals are generally held at the
home of the deceased, when that is not large enough
they are held at temples or public buildings.
Or, Christians may request a church funeral.

Ancient Japanese ideas of the soul persist, and it is still
believed that the souls of the dead return to the world
each summer at Obon.


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