Hildreth's "Japan as It Was and Is": A Handbook of Old Japan, Volume 2 (of 2)

by Richard Hildreth

Of the funeral ceremonies[78] observed at Nagasaki, Titsingh gives the following account: The body, after being carefully washed by a favorite servant, and the head shaved, is clothed according to the state of the weather, and (if a female, in her best apparel) exactly as in life, except that the sash is tied, not in a bow, but strongly fastened with two knots, to indicate that it is never more to be loosed. The body is then covered with a piece of linen, folded in a peculiar manner, and is placed on a mat in the middle of the hall, the head to the north. Food is offered to it, and all the family lament.

After being kept for forty-eight hours, the body is placed on its knees in a tub-shaped coffin, which is enclosed in a square, oblong box, or bier, the top of which is roof-shaped, called kwan. Two ihai are also prepared,—wooden tablets of a peculiar shape and fashion, containing inscriptions commemorative of the deceased, the time of his decease, and the name given to him since that event.

The ihai and kwan, followed by the eldest son and the family, servants, friends, and acquaintances, are borne in a procession, with flags, lanterns, etc., to one of the neighboring temples, whence, after certain ceremonies, in which the priests take a leading part, they are carried, by the relatives only, to the grave, where a priest, while waiting their arrival, repeats certain hymns. The moment they are come, the tub containing the body is taken out of the kwan and deposited in the grave, which is then filled with earth and covered with a flat stone, which again is covered with earth, and over the whole is placed the kwan and one of the ihai, which is removed at the end of seven weeks, to make room for the hiseki,[79] or gravestone. If the deceased had preferred to be burnt, the kwan is taken to the summit of one of two neighboring mountains, on the top of each of which is a sort of furnace, prepared for this purpose, enclosed in a small hut. The coffin is then taken from the kwan, and, being placed in the furnace, a great fire is kindled. The eldest son is provided with an earthen urn, in which first the bones and then the ashes are put, after which the mouth of the urn is sealed up. While the body is burning, a priest recites hymns. The urn is then carried to the grave, and deposited in it, and, the grave being filled up, the kwan is placed over it.

The eldest son and his brothers are dressed in white, in garments of undyed hempen stuff, as are the bearers, and all females attending the funeral, whether relatives or not; the others wear their usual dresses. The females are carried in norimono, behind the male part of the procession, which proceeds on foot, the nearest relatives coming first. The eldest daughter takes precedence of the wife. The eldest son and heir, whether by blood or adoption, who is the chief mourner, wears also a broad-brimmed hat, of rushes, which hang about his shoulders, and in this attire does not recognize nor salute anybody.

It is a remarkable circumstance that relatives in the ascending line and seniors never attend the funerals of their junior kindred, nor go into mourning for them. Thus, if the second son should die, neither father, mother, uncle, aunt, elder brother, nor elder sister would attend the funeral.

The laboring classes are not required to go into mourning; yet some of them do for two, three, or four days. With them the burial takes place after twenty-four hours. With the upper class the mourning is fixed at fifty days. It used to be twice that time, but is said to have been cut down by Iyeyasu (founder of the reigning dynasty), that the business of the public functionaries might suffer the less interruption. Persons in mourning stay at home, abstain from animal food of any description, and from sake, and neither cut their nails nor shave their heads.

One of the ihai is left, as has been mentioned, at the grave; the other, during the period of mourning, is set up in the best apartment of the house of the deceased. Sweetmeats, fruit, and tea are placed before it, and morning, noon, and night food is offered to it, served up as to a living person. Two candles, fixed in candlesticks, burn by it night and day, and a lighted lantern is hung up on either side. The whole household, of both sexes, servants included, pray before it morning and evening. This is kept up for seven weeks, and during each week, from the day of the death, a priest attends and reads hymns for an hour before the ihai. He is each time supplied with ornaments, and paid a fee of from five to six mas.

During these seven weeks the son goes every day, be the weather what it may, and says a prayer by the grave. He wears his rush hat, through which he can see without being seen, speaks to nobody, and is dressed in white. With this exception, and a ceremonious visit, in the third, fourth, or fifth week, to the relatives and friends, he remains in his house, with the door fastened. It is customary to erect a small hut near the grave, in which a servant watches, noting down the names of all who come to visit it.

When the seven weeks are over, the mourner shaves and dresses, opens his door, and goes, if an officer, to inform the governor that his days of mourning are over. He next pays a complimentary visit to all who attended the funeral, or have visited the grave, sending them also a complimentary present. The hiseki, or gravestone (almost precisely like those in use with us), is placed over the grave, and two ihai, varnished black and superbly gilt, are provided, one of which is sent to a temple. The other remains at home, kept in a case in a small apartment appropriated for that purpose, in which are kept the ihai of all the ancestors of the family. It is customary every morning, after rising and dressing, to take the ihai out of its case, and to burn a little incense before it, bowing the head in token of respect.