A Brief Look at Funerals in Japan

(A small memorial I photographed in Tokyo in 2010 of the 1923 Kantō Earthquake,
the Buddhist figure here is Jizō Bodhisattva.)

Time Magazine posted a very concise, but well-written article (via Yahoo News) on the challenges of providing funeral services in the wake of the recent earthquake in the Tōhoku area of Japan. What surprised me is how much the tradition of funerals has changed back and forth over the years.

Buddhist tradition is pretty universal in cremating the body. This stems from Indian practices, but has been well adopted in other Buddhist countries too, though the specifics may vary a little. Also, the article correctly stated some important points.

First, the body is partially cremated, so that the bones still remain. People in Japan use two pairs of chopsticks to then take the bones and place them in a special urn, and then the urn is interned at a grave-site (similar to the US). For this reason, it’s extremely rude in Japanese culture to use a pair of chopsticks to take food from someone else using another pair of chopsticks (two pairs of chopsticks in other words), because it looks like something suitable for funerals. Using chopsticks to place food on someone’s plate and such is perfectly fine though.

I remember a friend of mine who died in the US several years ago from a car accident. His family were Japanese-Koreans (grandparents had originally emigrated from North Korea, parents had grown up in Japan), and they flew to the US for the funeral. I was not present when they cremated the body, but my wife had been, and she told me how they followed the same tradition of picking the bones carefully into an urn, and then they flew back to Japan with that urn. I don’t know if Korean culture itself observes the same tradition or not, I’d like to hear back from readers who know more about this.

Also, the article was correct in that the funeral process is long.¹ This is based on Confucian tradition, where one demonstrates their filial piety by observing a long period of mourning. For example, when a loved one does, Japanese families will usually refrain from sending New Year’s cards that year. If you visit the home of a family whose lost a loved one, you’ll often find a framed photo of that person in the Buddhist altar, or butsudan as well, and you are welcome to pay respects (make sure to ask first):

• You light a single stick of incense and place it upright in the small in the small incense holder.²
• Ring the small Buddhist bell.
• Put your hands together in a gesture or respect, bow your head slightly.

When visiting the home of my wife’s uncle, who passed away from leukemia years ago, this is what we did. Years had passed, but the picture was still there, along with candles and incense.

But immediately after the funeral, there are traditionally 7 memorials observed on the 7th, 14th, 21st days and so on (every 7 days, in other words) until the 49th day. The 7th and 49th day memorials are considered particularly important because in Mahayana Buddhist thought, a person’s “spirit” may linger up to 49 days before moving on. Traditionally there are different Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that represent each of these days, and often additional memorials are observed at 100 days, 1 year, and so on. Confucius himself stated in The Analects:

[4:20] Confucius said: “If, for three years (after your father’s death) you don’t alter his ways of doing things, you can certainly be called ‘filial.’” (trans. Prof. Charles Muller)

In practice, many people only observe the 7th day and 49th day memorials. Sometimes this is for cost reasons (funeral costs are expensive anywhere), for personal reasons, or just because it’s not practical. I’ve heard stories from Buddhist priests here in the US among other places how memorial practices will vary. In cases of extreme grief (e.g. parents losing an only child), the full memorial services might be observed, for example.

The blend of Buddhist and Confucian tradition is interesting because the assumptions and traditions are fairly different, and the Time article shows how they’ve conflicted in the past. Confucian tradition holds that the dead should be buried, but Buddhist tradition holds that the dead should be cremated. Depending on nationalist sentiments (e.g. the Meiji Period, late Edo Period), things will shift back and forth. But this tension isn’t unique to Japan, as Prof. Charles Muller shows in the debate between Korean Buddhist monk, Gi-Hwa and the Confucian orthodoxy (original article here).

Also, Shinto religion in Japan weighs in here, because of the concern about the pollution and trauma of death. As the linked post shows, the idea is that anything that is traumatic or painful upsets the balance of things, and can draw evil spirits to the polluting event or place. For this reason, among others, Shinto does not involve itself with funerals much, but does concern itself greatly with keeping people and places pure if they encounter death, among other things.

In any case, all three traditions do concern themselves with helping the dead move along and to find peace, while helping the bereaved to recover from the painful loss and express gratitude to the loved ones lost. For this reason, although there are differences and occasional political conflicts, the three blend together to provide a comprehensive framework for Japanese religion and for dealing with the trauma of death.

This post has been a brief look, but I hope it proves useful. Comments and corrections appreciated.

Namu Yakushi Nyorai

¹ Compare with funeral traditions in other parts of the world. For example, in Islamic tradition, the body is buried as quickly as possible. The grieving process, on the other hand, is pretty universal of course.

² Some Buddhist sects, such as Jodo Shinshu, place the incense sideways. Not sure why this is done, apart from tradition.