(From Folklore in Japanese Life and Customs by Tokihiko Oto (Kokusai Bunka Shinhikai, 1963), Vol. VI of the Series of Japanese Life and Culture)
"When a person breathes his last, the rite of tama-yobai (soul-calling) is due, in which his name is called. In some places somebody climbs up to the roof to do this, or it is done on the roof while knocking a rice-measure on the roof-ridge. The ritual is to call his soul back once more. If this attempt fails, then the person is recognized as really dead. Many omens are believed in concerning death. Many Buddhist temples report that they hear chimes or bells sounding when a death occurs among their devotees. A nationwide belief says that when a crow utters an ominous cry, somebody is dying.
"As soon as a person dies, the first step is to inform his relatives. As a rule, some of the neighbors accept the responsibility, but two people always go together on this mission. Perhaps this custom originated in an attempt to overcome the polluting effects of death. These messengersare required to carry lighted lanterns even in broad daylight, and they never stop at any other place on their way. The families receiving them are expected in many places to offer these messengers food and drink.
"At the same time the messengers go to the relatives, one is sent to the temple. This is to determine the date and hour of the funeral but a present of rice is taken at this time in many instances. Besides rice, sometimes the best dress worn by the deceased is also donated to the temple.
"After the death is thus announced, the bereaved family has to perform certain rituals in the prescribed manner. In the first place, the dead person has to be moved to one of the best rooms in the house where he is laid with his head toward the north and folding screens are set up upside down all around him. The body is covered with a dress with its bottom-part up toward the head, and a sword or some other edged tool is laid on it. This is said to drive away the evil things, and special care is taken to keep cats away from the body. In some parts of Kyushu, a mosquito-net is hung over body with one of its hangers off the hook toward the feet of the body. This is why a mosquito-net hung with one of the hangers out of place is disliked on ordinary days.
"Offerings of incense, water and cooked rice are placed near the pillow of the deceased. This rice, called makura-meshi (pillow meal), is cooked as soon as the death is ascertained. It must be served in one bowl, without leaving anything in the pot. Ordinarily just one bowl of rice is never eaten. Also a single chopstick is set up in the center of the bowl. It is said that the soul of the dead person will go and pay a visit at the Zenkoji Temple in Nagano Prefecture and the rice must be cooked before it comes back. In some regions, salt and miso (bean-paste) are offered in addition to the rice. Other regions have a custom of making dumplings instead of the makura-meshi. These dumplings are made with freshly pounded rice flour, kneaded and made into balls before being steamed. This is why ordinarily people dislike making dumplings with flour that has just been pounded. In addition to the food, one single flower is put in a vase near the pillow, something that must not be done on ordinary days. The flower seems to serve as a seat for the departed soul. In some places, the flower is taken to the grave in the funeral procession.
"Relatives and friends send condolence gifts (koden) to a bereaved family before the funeral. These are gifts now of money as a general rule, but in rural areas they may still send some rice, each of the near relatives giving a whole bag of rice. The record of such donations for each funeral is kept in every family in a special book called koden-chou. Each family consults its own record of condolence gifts previously received and tries to return a comparable sum to contributors when they have misfortune. Some villages have a system called mura-koden (village koden) or tsunagi-koden (joint koden), in which all the villagers pool their donations and give together. Return presents are sent to the donors on the 35th or 49th day after death, when periods of mourning expire. These presents are comonly represented by tea, cloth, or wrapping scarfs.
"A widespread custom for the bereaved family is to hang a rattan blind at the entrance and on it a piece of white paper, on which are inscribed the words: ki-chuu (in mourning). In a more limited number of areas, a temporary lattice-screen of wood or bamboo is set up in front ofthe house. Within the house, family altars and framed pictures on the walls are sealed with sheets of white paper. Entering a house where there is mourning may affect a person and make him ill, it is said. Silk-worms may die as a result of a mourner stepping into the silk-raising room. In some areas it is believed that crops wither when such a person goes into the field.
"Members of the same age-group were supposed to influence each other more than others, and a custom prevails in many parts of the country requiring people to stop their ears with rice-cakes whenever they hear of death befalling to one of their own age-graders. The rice-cakes may be made at home or bought at a store. Then they pretend that they did not hear of the unfortunate news. The rice-cakes are later thrown away at a cross-roads or into a river, after which one is not supposed to look back on the way home. In many places this rule is observed by age-fellows living near enough to be able to see the roof-ridge of the house where death occurred. In other places this rite is required of young children only.
"Rice-cake is not the only ear-stopper; pressed rice-balls, dumplings, peas or sweetmeats are sometimes provided for the purpose. In some places they stop their ears with straw-sandals or kettle-lids. The same foodstuff is distributed to the other people as a rule, presumably based on the conviction that the more people participated in the eating together, the more effectively they could overcome the pollution from death. Members of the same age-group had frequent opportunities of eating or working together, and consequently contagion was dreaded particularly when one of their age-group died. The danger was counteracted by dining together with people of other ages, as an attempt to sever their relationships with the dead. The idea is implied in the fact that this rite is often referred to as toshitagai-mame (age-changing pea) or toshimashi-dango (age-increasing dumpling). Those who ate these peas or dumplings with other age-groups added an extra year to their age, so that they no longer belonged to the same grade as the deceased.
"The funeral outfit is now furnished by a professional dealer or undertaker in urban areas, but it is prepared together by the villagers in rural regions as a rule. In many instances the coffin stand and a few other things are kept as village property in a special hut. Smaller things to be used in burial are made by the villagers as the need arises.
"While the funeral necessaries are thus prepared by the villagers, the body must be placed in a coffin by the blood relatives of the deceased. First the body must be cleaned with warm water. The rite is called yukan (washing of the body). Those who are engaged in this business wear straw ropes as sashes and tuck up their sleeves with ropes of straw. The water to be used in this rite is called koe-kake miyu (called for water), for whoever is assigned the job of fetching the water must not bring it right away but wait until sent for. Then hot water is poured into cold water, never the other way. These are all manners frowned upon on ordinary occasions. In the old method, the body was immersed in a tub and washed, but now it is only wiped all over.
"In some places the body-washers drink some cold rice-wine before start working. After this rite, the face of the deceased person is shaved. Then the body is dressed in a white burial garment, with leggings and socks. As a Japanese sock has a big toe separately, the right one is put on the opposite foot. The body is laid in the coffin in an extended position today, but formerly the sitting position was the rule, and a wooden tub was used for the coffin. In some parts of Kyushu, earthen urns are used for this purpose. In case a body was interred in a sitting position, it was sometimes tied up with a rope or a length of cloth.
"When the coffin is ready to be carried out of the house, a farewell meal is served to the assembly. The near relatives are supposed to eat just one serving of rice, which is called detachi no zen (meal for departure). Sometimes a rice-ball is eaten while standing, in which case it is called tachimeshi (meal taken standing). Sake or rice-wine may be served sometimes in addition to the rice, and this is called detachi no sake. In some places, not only the near relatives but everybody who comes to the funeral may be entertained with food and drinks.
"As the coffin leaves the family presincts, it is carried through a temporary gate made of bent bamboo branches or of reeds as a widespread custom. Sometimes this temporary gate (kari mon) is carried at the head of a funeral procession and the coffin is made to pass through it again on its arrival at the temple mound. This gate is destroyed after the burial in order to confuse the departed soul in case it may want to return to the world. After the coffin is carried out, some baskets are rolled around on its floor before it is swept with a broom. This is said to prevent the departed soul from coming back, too. The tea-cup used by the deceased is then broken to pieces by the gate, or a bundle of straw be burnt. This is called send-off fire (okuri-bi).
"Women were formerly supposed to express their grief by ritual crying at funerals. Some criers could be hired in some places. They were called naki-onna (crying women), who cried according to the order and the amount of rice given in remuneration, variously calledissho-naki (one-sho*crying), or sanjo-naki (3-sho crying). They cried at the death-bed, in the procession, and at the grave. The manner of crying as well as the words they were supposed to say while crying were more or less set patterns.
"The procession to the place of burial consisted of many people and various objects to be carried in a prescribed way. The heir and successor to the deceased walked by the coffin, holding the ancestral tablet in his hand. Other children carried food-trays. Lanterns, flowers, or a dragon-head were carried by others. Sometimes the procession proceeds while ringing a little bell. In Some places carrying a lantern is a very important duty. The one chosen to do this is one of the more important people of the same clan. Four sticks of artificial flowers, called shika four flowers), or more usually just some pieces of paper in the form of flowers attached to the tops of four bamboo sticks, may be planted on the four corners of the grave after the burial. In many places, women in a funeral procession cover their heads a white cloth called sode-kaburi (sleeve-covering), a sort of mourning dress. As a fairly widespread custom, both men and women wear paper triangles on their foreheads. To the coffin front is attached a rope made of white cloth, which is called zen notsuna (rope of goodness). In some areas, the rope is attached to the rear of the coffin. The rope is held by a female relative. The close kin are supposed to walk near the coffin.
"Coffin-carriers are differently chosen in various districts. They may be the near relatives, members of the village association, or hired men. At present, the most likely carriers are the members of a village club or neighborhood association. In case the deceased happens to be advanced in age, his grandsons and nephews may serve as the coffin-carriers. It is said that one does not serve as a coffin-carrier more than once a year. The members of a pregnant woman's family are not supposed to carry coffins.
"As the procession moves on, they leave a lighted candle on a small stand made of wood and bamboo at each intersection. In Osaka and its vicinity, they would leave short straw-ropes at the crossroads. Both are said to be done in order to prevent the departed soul from going astray. After the coffin has been carried out of the house, or sometimes on the temple ground or at the graveyard, the coffin-carriers go round and round it three times. This seems to represent an exorcising rite to prevent the soul of the deceased from coming back. In some places, a big fire is made at the graveyard as soon as the procession comes into sight. In other places the fire is lit only after the burial.
"The gravediggers used to be selected from among the near relatives. Nowadays, however,the job is taken over by neighborhood associations, the members of wshich take turns in a fixed order to do the work at each funeral. Of course, urban areas have had professional gravediggers since the early times. A gravedigger is to be attired in field clothes and wears a roughly made straw rope as a sash. The bereaved family sets out a good meal for the gravediggers, giving some presents to them and also inviting them to memorial services later.
"When the coffin is lowered into the pit, each person attending the funeral throws astone or a handful of earth on the coffin. After the burial is over, a rice-cake is cut into pieces on the spot in the Tohoku district. This may be called yotsu-mochi (quartered rice-cake). Sometimes brothers are prescribed to tug at a rice-cake, each tearing his own share off and throwing it over his shoulder.
"It is a nationwide custom when people come home from a funeral for them to be purified by means of salt sprinkled on them. In some places, they wach their hands and feet in a basin set at the entrance before they enter the house. The villagers who attended a funeral are customarily treated to a feast sponsored by the bereaved family. The men hired for the occasion are also entertained with a meal in some regions.
"In some parts of kyushu, there is a custom of placing a stone called makura-ishi (pillow stone) on the fresh earth covering the coffin. A grave-marker is commonly represented by a square column of wood on which the dead person's name is inscribed. Other things serving the purpose include a small stupa called shichihon-botoke (seven buddhas) or a green bamboo pole about 6 feet high, whose sections are all cleared through. This pole is called ikitsuki-dake (breathing bamboo), seemingly intended as a passage way for the soul of the deceased. In various parts of Tohoku they cover a new grave with a tripod of wood, hanging a sickle or a hoe on its top. Another nationwide custom is to bend several pieces of bamboo over the grave in the likeness of a large-meshed basket, which is called inu-hajiki (dog-snapper) or ookami-hajiki (wolf-snapper). It is intended to prevent the dogs or wolves from tearing up the grave. In some places, it is believed to serve as a charm against evil spirits. In case a child is buried in the grave, split bamboo strips are planted around it, gathered and fastened together at the top. As a child's grave contains a small coffin, it is believed to be more easily ravaged by dogs. There are places where they surround a new grave with a fence of green bamboo.
"A somewhat curious custom called gan-modoshi (calling off the vows) exists in relation to a person's death. It is explained that the rite is held to dismiss all the pending vows and petitions the deceased might have made to the Buddhist and Shinto deities in his lifetime. It is more often performed when the coffin leaves the family premises, but may be observed a few days later. The method varies from region to region, but the following pattern is extensively followed. A rice-measure of one-sho capacity, in which small paper wrappings of rice and salt are put, is covered with a fan and over it an incantation is recited saying, "Every wish has been granted; all petitions are hereby dismissed." Then the rice is scattered and the fan thrown away. Often the rivet is taken apart before the fan is thrown on to the roof. Another method is to shake a dress worn by the deceased, holding it by the bottom. Shaking a dress in this manner on ordinary occasions is therefore held in distaste. As a general rule, this rite is performed by somebody who is not related to the deceased by ties of blood.
"One of the commonly observed rituals during the seven weeks of mourning is washinga dress that belonged to the deceased in water. This is performed by one of the near relatives. In many instances, the ritual starts on the third day after death. The one who takes the dress to a river to be washed is required to carry some edged tool in some regions. The dress is dried in the shade facing the north. During the period of 49 days, water is sprinkled onto the dress from time to time. If the deceased happens to be a pregnant woman, a rack is set up by the side of a rivulet and a piece of red cloth is spread on it. Passers-by would kindly sprinkle water on the cloth with a dipper. This is called arai-zarashi (wearing out by washing). Sometimes it is left for a period of one hundred days, referred to as hyakunichi-zarashi (exposing for 100 days), in the belief that the deceased may safely proceed to the Paradise if the cloth is thus exposed until the color has faded.
"The 7th day after death is called sho-nanoka (the first seventh). It is the end of the first period of mourning. It is now moved up to the fifth or third night after death, and in some instances even to the night of funeral itself. This is celebrated with a feast called shojin-otoshi (ending of abstinence) and includes dishes of fish and wine-drinking. To the Buddhist rites relatives and near neighbors are invited and this occasion includes sutra-chanting, incense-burning, and visiting of the grave followed by a feast.
"It is a generally observed custom to mark the 49th day after death as the end of mourning. Buddhist services are held every seventh day during this period. The rites are more or less the same as those observed on the first seventh day. A somewhat interesting practice is called shiju-ku-mochi (49th mochi): the rice-cake punded in one mortar is divided into 49, making that many rice-cakes. Sometimes another mortar of rice-cake is pounded and made into one big rice-cake. These rice-cakes are usually donated to the temple, but in some regions they are distributed to near neighbors as well as to relatives. The rice-cake of this occasion is cut on the lid of the pot, eaten with bean-paste and salt, or pulled apart by several people, all manners deemed distasteful on ordinary occasions. In celebrating the end of 49-day mourning, the articles left by the departed are distributed among the near relatives.
"Burial was the custom in Japan, but the pit for the corpse was not dug very deep. It is recorded in some of the ancient documents that the graves were often ravaged by dogs. From this it is surmised that the ancient mothod of burial in Japan was closer to exposure to open air than to interment. There some records concerning some priests practicing burial in water, but this was never a general practice. Sometimes, however, they buried their dead on the beach or near the lakes or rivers where the bodies were likely to be washed by water. Cremation is said to have been introduced to this country with Buddhism, although that is not clear. Buddhism at least encouraged it, to all appearances. People disliked cremation in earlier times.
"In Kyushu as well as in a few other places, they build a small hut on the burial lot,and call it tamaya (soul-hut). This seems to be a survival of the moya (mourning hut) referred to in the ancient literature. In Tsushima and some other isolated islands, they used to build mourning-huts near the grave and the bereaved families were supposed to remain there until the expiration of their mourning periods.
"The graves serve a twofold purpose, a place to bury the body and a place to conduct necessary rites for the departed spirit. These two functions are combined in one grave today, that is, a stone marker is erected right on the spot where the body is buried. In some parts of central Japan, however, they still make two graves, one as a place of burial and the other, marked by a stone monument, as a place where the departed soul is worshipped. The first one is called sanmai, and the second rantoba. In small islands where available land is extremely limited, these two may be seen next to each other, but as a rule the grave for actual burial is made somewhere at a considerable distance from the village. After the stone monument is built for memorial services, the other grave is left to oblivion. Sometimes the bones are moved from the place of burial to the place for worship when the gravestone is installed. Cremation eliminated the necessity of preparing the two kinds of graves. The gravemarker in former days used to be a slab of natural stone without inscription. Today some gravestones bear the names of the individuals buried under them, while others are erected as family monuments.
"Memorial services for the deceased are held on the 1st anniversary of death, after which the 3rd the 7th and the 17th anniversaries are usually observed with somewhat elaborate ceremonies. The 33rd anniversary is generally considered as the concluding one, being known as tomurai-age (finishing memorial service) or toi-kiri (end of visiting). The grave is seldom visited after that. In some regions, they observe only the seventeenth and the fiftieth anniversary with some formality. When the last, memorial rites are performed, they often plant some such tree as a Japanese cedar, fir, or a chestnut with nice branches and leaves, scrape of its trunk near its root, and inscribe on it the posthumous name of the deceased. In some places it is held that the deceased, who has been worshipped in Buddhist rites before, becomes a Shinto deity after the 33rd anniversary."
During the Tokugawa era, mourning periods for at least some social groups were prescribed by law. In Things Japanese, Basil Hall Chamberlain gave the periods that samurai and daimyo had to observe for both wearing mourning garments and for abstaining from animal food, for different classes of relatives. The complete list is a long one, I have only included the closer family members. Note that birth and adoptive parents are treated identically, that a husband is not required to mourn for his wife as long as a wife is required to mourn for her husband, and the eldest son is given special status over the other children.
| Relationship | Garments | Food |
| Real parents | 13 months | 50 days |
| Adopted parents | 13 months | 50 days |
| Husband | 13 months | 50 days |
| Wife | 90 days | 20 days |
| Eldest son | 90 days | 20 days |
| Other children | 7 days | 3 days |
(From the “Sho-rei Hikki” -- Record of Ceremonies, quoted in Tales of Old Japan, Vol. 2)
On the death of a parent, the mourning clothes worn are made of coarse hempen cloth, and during the whole period of mourning these must be worn night and day. As the burial of his parents is the most important ceremony which a man has to go through during his whole life, when the occasion comes, in order that there be no confusion, he must employ some person to teach him the usual and proper rites. Above all things to be reprehended is the burning of the dead; they should be interred without burning. 1 The ceremonies to be observed at a funeral should by rights have been learned before there is occasion to put them into practice. If a man have no father or mother, he is sure to have to bury other relations; and so he should not disregard this study. There are some authorities who select lucky days and hours and lucky places for burying the dead, but this is wrong; and when they talk about curses being brought upon posterity by not observing these auspicious seasons and places, they make a great mistake. It is a matter of course that an auspicious day must be chosen so far as avoiding wind and rain is concerned, that men may bury their dead without their minds being distracted; and it is important to choose a fitting cemetery, lest in after-days the tomb should be damaged by rain, or by men walking over it, or by the place being turned into a field, or built upon. When invited to a friend’s or neighbour’s funeral, a man should avoid putting on smart clothes and dresses of ceremony; and when he follows the coffin, he should not speak in a loud voice to the person next to him, for that is very rude, and even should he have occasion to do so, he should avoid entering wine-shops or tea-houses on his return from the funeral.
The list of persons present at a funeral should be written on slips of paper, and firmly bound together. It may be written as any other list, only it must not be written beginning at the right hand, as is usually the case, but from the left hand (as is the case in European books).
On the day of burial, during the funeral service, incense is burned in the temple before the tablet on which is inscribed the name under which the dead person enters salvation.2 The incense-burners, having washed their hands, one by one, enter the room where the tablet is exposed, and advance half-way up to the tablet, facing it; producing incense wrapped in paper from their bosoms, they hold it in their left hands, and, taking a pinch with the right hand, they place the packet in their left sleeve. If the table on which the tablet is placed be high, the person offering incense half raises himself from his crouching position; if the table be low, he remains crouching to burn the incense, after which he takes three steps backwards, with bows and reverences, and retires six feet, when he again crouches down to watch the incense-burning, and bows to the priests who are sitting in a row with their chief at their head, after which he rises and leaves the room. Up to the time of burning the incense no notice is taken of the priest. At the ceremony of burning incense before the grave, the priests are not saluted. The packet of incense is made of fine paper folded in three, both ways.
NOTE – The reason why the author of the ‘Sho-Rei Hikki’ has treated so briefly of the funeral ceremonies is probably that these rites, being invariably entrusted to the Buddhist priesthood, vary according to the sect of the latter; and, as there are no less than fifteen sects of Buddhism in Japan, it would be a long matter to enter into the ceremonies practised by each. Should Buddhism be swept out of Japan, as seems likely to be the case, men will probably return to the old rites which obtained before its introduction in the sixth century of our era. What those rites were I have been unable to learn.
1 On the subject of burning the dead, see a note to the story of Choubei of Bandzuin.
2 After death, a person receives a new name. For instance, the famous Prince Tokugawa Iyéyasu entered salvation as Gongen Sama. This name is called okurina, or the accompanying name.
Japanese Funeral Style. Gives the step-by-step procedure of the modern Japanese funeral.