This is Part Nine of an ongoing series about the Shinto way of death, adapted with permission from an academic article by Elizabeth Kenney.  It shows how traditional Shinto arrangements differ from the more prevalent forms of Buddhist funeral.  Though the research was carried out in the 1990s and some of the information is dated, the fundamentals still apply.  For the original article, see Elizabeth Kenney ‘Shinto mortuary rites in contemporary Japan.’

Departure of the coffin
This rite marks the departure of the deceased from the house (or funeral site) with a few brief rituals. If the wake is held at the house and the funeral somewhere else, then the departure rite will be conducted when the coffin moves from the house after the wake.

A pair of priest’s shoes may be placed near the coffin to indicate preparing to move

Banners with the name of the deceased are set up, and a protective sword is placed on top of the coffin. In addition, a pair of black wooden clogs (like those worn by Shinto priests) may be placed on a small table near the coffin.

The purpose of the rite is to inform the deceased that he will soon be moving from his house. The ritual activities are similar to those seen at the wake and funeral: offerings of food and tamagushi, prayers, and bows.

The procession
The coffin is taken out of the house and transported in a hearse to the crematorium (or, less commonly now, to the grave). Until rather recently, at both Buddhist and Shinto funerals, the coffin was carried all the way to the grave site (in the case of burial) or to the crematorium by the mourners themselves. Nowadays the mourners, carrying the coffin on their shoulders, travel only as far as the hearse.

The relatives of the deceased may carry a photo, the reiji, the coffin, food offerings, sakaki, banners with the name of the deceased, brooms, torches, and lanterns. Anthropologists have extensively surveyed the local variations in the funeral procession. In addition to the Shinto items listed here, other things often seen are: 1. a rope (“rope of goodness”) attached to the coffin and held by women (fertility?); 2. a staff held by a man (also [phallic] fertility?), 3. drums; 4. parasols (a “spirit bag” is used in some places, which holds the spirit of the dead person and, it is said, can be felt to get heavier or lighter as the procession proceeds).

Poles are a common part of Shinto processions, symbolising the connection between this world and the other

One Shinto priest considered the pole “for the dead to go to the afterlife” (perhaps a kind of axis mundi); torches and lanterns light the path for the dead; banners “show that the dead is coming to Yomi no Kuni; “brooms clean and purify the path to Yomi no Kuni for the dead.”

A 1995 funeral procession for a Shinto priest in Shiga prefecture included the following members:

1 . Two men, dressed in black suits, carrying unlit torches
2. A Shinto priest carrying a purification wand
3 . A broom-bearer
4. One man holding a yellow banner
5. One man carrying a sakaki branch
6. The chief mourner (the son who is a priest) carrying a shaku (wooden pallet).
7. A grandson carrying the memorial tablet
8. A woman in white carrying rice. The rice must symbolize purity and fertility.
9. A woman in black carrying the photo
10. A lantern-bearer
1 1 . The coffin, carried by six men
12. Another lantern-bearer
13. At the end walked the widow and all the other mourners.

This procession did not have far to go, and the participants walked in a straggly line from the building to the hearse.

Myth relates that when Izanami dies, she goes to the land of Yomi (Yomi no kuni). This rock near Izumo is said to be the one used by Izanagi to block this world off Yomi from this world.

Shinto funeral processions used to be held at night. Now processions are conducted in daylight, with the torch-bearers and lantern-bearers providing no light with their unlit torches and lanterns. There are several ways to understand the importance of night for a Shinto funeral: 1. The darkness conceals the impurity of death and limits its range. 2. Because the land of Yomi is the opposite of the living, in order for the dead to arrive there during the day, they must leave here at night (something like a long-distance airplane flight). This explanation was offered by a Shinto priest. 3. The land of Yomi is a dark, shadowy place (recall that Izanagi had to light a torch to behold his wife’s putrefying corpse), so terrestrial night is the most appropriate atmosphere for the deceased’s move to a new environment.

Before the departure, the mourners may gather around the coffin to take one last look at the deceased. As at a Buddhist funeral, they may each put a flower (usually a chrysanthemum) into the coffin as a final offering to the deceased. They then may use a stone to pound the coffin lid shut (although this custom is considered by some to be a Buddhist practice, it is also often performed at Shinto funerals). Grasping the stone, the living use their own hands to seal the deceased into his coffin and segregate him from the realm of the living.

Meanwhile, back at the house, relatives and other mourners who have not gone to the crematorium dismantle the funeral altar. At the very time that the body is being cremated, relatives back at the house are arranging offerings and preparing the new residence of the spirit of the deceased. Priests ritually purify the ancestral altar, the family, other mourners, the interior and exterior of the house, and the grounds.

Chrysanthemums are used for graves and as a flower for commemorating death

Offerings for the dead, as for kami, may include favourite food or drink alongside water, saké, salt and rice grains.

Funeral ceremony
The funeral proper is but one in a series of rites for the deceased. Usually held two days after the death, it takes about two hours. Since a Shinto funeral cannot be held on shrine grounds (due to the impurity of death), it is conducted in a private house, a commercial funeral hall, a community center, or in a shrine-owned building adjacent to but not actually part of the shrine precincts.

The coffin is the basis of the altar. Arranged around the coffin are: a photo of the deceased; a banner with the name of the deceased; a protective sword or a mirror; a pair of black lacquered clogs placed on a table near the head of the deceased. Tables of food offerings (favorite foods of the deceased, salt, water, rice, vegetables, fruit, sweets) are also set up.

This coffin-altar is set up against the back of the room. Shimenawa (sacred rope) or curtains may be hung around the area, white and yellow banners stand near the coffin, while lights and sakaki branches are placed in front. The ritual area has usually been raised up higher than the floor on which the mourners sit. If it is not higher, it is marked off in some way from the other part of the room.

Shinto funerals naturally vary according to the local shrine customs, the status or personality of the deceased, and the influence of folk tradition. An outline of a typical funeral is as follows:

Gohei are offered to the deceased. This is often used as a vehicle into which spirits descend.

1 . The mourners purify themselves by washing their hands and mouths.
2. The mourners enter the funeral site and take their seats. If there are musicians (who are usually Shinto priests themselves), they enter the room after the mourners.
3. The chief priest enters the room. The participants bow once in unison toward the priest.
4. Announcement of the start of the funeral: “We will now hold the funeral of So-and-So.”
5. Purification rite. The priests purify the room, offerings and participants. The participants make a deep bow while the priest performs the purification. If they are sitting on chairs, they should stand up and bow their heads.
6. The chief priest bows once, and others follow.
7. The priests present the food offerings and banners; gagaku music may be played, live or taped. In a 1995 funeral for a Shinto priest in Shiga prefecture, the offerings were more varied than the ritual manuals would indicate: sake, large flat rice cakes, fish, seaweed, radish, cabbage, carrots, bananas, melons, and apples.
8. The priests offer gohei (wood sticks with zigzag white paper attached; also called heihaku).
9. The chief priest presents an elegy praising the life of the deceased and prays that the deceased may rest in peace and become a guardian deity, like his own ancestors, to watch over his descendants. The mourners listen to the priest’s words with bowed heads.
10. A eulogy is offered by an assistant priest. He gives a brief biography and describes the virtues of the deceased.
1 1 . Expressions of condolence by the mourners.
12. Reading of condolence telegrams and other messages.
13. Offering of tamagushi. First the chief priest presents a tamagushi to the altar, then the other priests do so. Next, the chief mourner, family members and other guests offer tamagushi.
13. The priests remove first the gohei, then the food offerings.
14. The chief priest bows once. Then the mourners all bow once.
15. The priests leave the room.
16. Announcement of the end of the funeral.

Tamagushi are a common offering in Shinto, for both kami and the deceased

Throughout the funeral, when the priests or others are called upon to clap, they should clap without making any noise. This is called shinobide (literally, patient hands). Ordinary clapping is a regular part of Shinto worship. The soundless clapping at funerals thus represents an inversion of normal practices. Some priests state that silent clapping should be practiced for one year after the funeral during the memorial rites. Others state that the clapping should gradually get louder and louder over the course of a year.

The 1995 funeral in Shiga for a Shinto priest included an additional eulogy by the chief mourner, the son of the deceased, himself also now a Shinto priest after a twenty-year business career. Toward the end of the ceremony, he stepped out of the building to address the many people standing outside who had listened to the ceremony over loudspeakers.

The priest thanked them for coming on such a cold day and spoke of his father with respect and affection. He used ordinary Japanese, not the high stilted voice and archaic diction he had used in front of the altar when delivering a eulogy directly to the deceased. One guest commented with approval that he sounded “like a real pro” (that is, a professional Shinto priest) inside, but outside he sounded “like a son.”

Next, gifts were distributed to the mourners. The gifts, contained in ordinary white supermarket plastic bags, were distributed unceremoniously from the back of a truck. As the guests waited for the funeral procession to begin, some of them looked inside the bags and took out small sweets and crackers.

Gagaku music may be played live or recorded during the funeral