This Is Japan
Explore everyday life in Japan
My wife’s family’s cat of nearly sixteen years passed away last Friday night and on Sunday morning we had a funeral for it.
To my surprise, many of the rituals and superstitions involved in the ceremony were the same as those that are performed on the bodies of people.
A small wake was held at a crematorium where a Buddhist priest burned incense and chanted prayers before an icon of a god. As he did so, he occasionally hit the edge of a metal singing bowl with a wooden mallet and its deep sound reverberated powerfully through the small room where we, immediate family members and I, stood bowed in silence, our hands held together in prayer with a string of round prayer beads hung over our left hands.
When the priest finished reciting prayers, we approached the altar and proceeded in ritual the same way we would have had the ceremony been for a person. One at a time, we bowed, took a small pinch of granulated incense from a bowl, brought it near the bridges of our noses while slightly bowing our heads, and sprinkled it over a small flame. We did this three times. After each of us had completed this part of the ritual, the cat’s body was moved to a separate room where we were all allowed to say our final goodbye before it was cremated.
During the cremation, comments were made about the weather. It was a warm, sunny day with mostly blue skies which was interpreted to mean that Miu had been ready to leave us when she passed away and was not troubled by her own passing. However, despite the mostly blue skies and fair weather, scattered rain drops managed to fall which lead some members of my wife's family to claim that while Miu had been ready to leave this world, she was saddened about having to part with us.
In Japan, the weather on one’s funeral day is supposed to be indicative of how the one feels about their own death. If one is accepting and willing to enter the afterlife, the weather will be nice. If one is tormented about their passing, the weather will reflect that torment.
Outside, as we waited under blue skies and scattered raindrops, cars periodically pulled into the parking lot of the crematorium. Individuals, pairs, and groups of people exited from them carrying candles, incense, flowers, and sometimes treats and cans of food to leave beneath the walls of plaques and at the bases of wooden markers that surrounded a large outdoor altar next to the crematorium.Before this outdoor altar, in the same way they would before the grave of a friend or a family member, these people all left flowers, lit candles, burned incense, put their hands together, bowed, and either communicated with their pet's spirit or prayed for its wellbeing.
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.
I love visiting Japan as it is a cool place for the food, culture and attractions. Thanks to your post I've discovered another good part in the culture of Japan - the respect of lives. Pets in my city are often not properly treated (maybe just thrown to the trash) when dead, not because of the owners' will to not get them well settled but simply the existence of bad people running pets' funeral services..
Japan does have a lot to offer, doesn't it? It also has its fair share of scandals and crooks. I feel like there was a big story here not too long ago about animals not being disposed of in the way they were said to be. I could be wrong, though.
That said, respect is generally a big part of the culture here. Thanks for your comment.
Is respect and loyalty still a big thing over there. I always like it when I see some movies made in Japan.
Yes. Respect and loyalty are a big part of the culture here. Their roots run deep.
That was very beautiful writing. I'm telling you. I'm moving to japan.
I believe you. I forgot to mention the part about picking the bones up with chopsticks after the cremation and putting them in a wooden box that gets an ornamental cover.
It sounds strange, but it really completes the closure of the ceremony and the process.
ok. so does the family picks up and clean the cremation site after? Some of your best writing. It touched me. You really got me with the symbolism, tradition and weather. When my father passed and it was a similar day on his funeral. Rain and sun, back and forth all morning. My cousin was suppose to give the eulogy. Right before he had to go up he told me he couldn't do it. He was too emotional distraught. My father passed with a massive heart attack at age 56. So, very unexpected to everyone. Anyways, I was forced to go up and I did the best eulogy I could. I don't remember much of what I said but I do remember crying and seeing my mom and sister's faces in the front pew. I talked about how it was raining and it was such a sad day but the sun will shine again and that my dad will always be with us. When we got to the burial site. It was still sprinkling during the car ride over to the cemetery. When we got there the sun was out and I remember it being really bright, like sunglasses bright. I was crying too so my eyes were also probably sensitive. When the priest was giving the last prayers a bird or hawk made a loud call. It was circling right above us. Everyone knew that my dad was an avid bird lover. When the call came out everyone looked up and stared to cry. It was a tough day. Still is to remember it.
Wow! That must have been really intense!
The Japanese also have a belief that the spirit of a person doesn't leave the Earth for 49 days. I've been told the details about this, but don't remember them very well. I think the idea, though, is that you can still have contact with them during this time and that this is all related to interpreting the weather and what kind of feelings they will have a spirit walking the Earth for 49 days.
I've only been involved in the one ceremony twice, once with a person and this time with an animal. It may very from crematorium to crematorium, but in my experience, the bones are presented to you on a try as they have come to settle. With the human, the tray was on top of a roller that is used to slide it in and out of the furnace. I don't think this was the case with Miu, the cat.
At any rate, the family isn't responsible for cleaning the site. That is all a part of the service of the funeral center.
That is close to what I was taught as a Catholics. 40 days the soul wanders the earth. We do prayers and family get-togethers during that time. thanks for reading my dump on your post : ) your writing hit a soft spot with me. I probably got all this estrogen in me from taking care of the baby all day. hahaha. See ya.
I didn't realize that there was a parallel with Catholic belief. I was never really taught any of that when I was younger so I'm not even sure if I had a Catholic upbringing or a Christian upbringing.
I'm sure you've got your hands full. Being a stay at home dad can't be easy. You're getting some great portraits out of your daughter's first year so far. Keep it up! I really enjoyed the dream-like one that you made recently.
Thank You boxcarblue for enhancing our lives by sharing the experience of Japan culture with us!
I hope my posts do have that effect. That would make me very happy. Thanks for your comment!
Awesome post @boxcarblue! Upvoted and shared, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing my post! I appreciate it.
Sorry about the loss of the cat, pets cease being pets and become family members shortly after acquiring them. So loosing one is painful. Anyhow, thanks for the everyday look of Japan through your eyes.
Pets definitely do become family. You're absolutely right about that. Thanks for reading my series.
Nice post. I am from Munich, Germany and don't know anything about Japan. Planing to visit Asia epecially Japan "when life takes me there ;-)"
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Japan is a great place to visit. Hopefully, life will bring you here soon.
Sorry to hear about your family's loss. Thanks for this glimpse into how another culture deals with death.
It's interesting, isn't it? There is a lot of structure and procedure involved in funerals over here. It can be pretty confusing, even for people who have been raised here.
I bury my former pets on my backyard. I miss them all.
That's how I did, too, back in the States. This was my first time laying a pet to rest in Japan.
Different countries have different ways for things.
Miu was the name of a cat I had for a brief time. He was born at our place and "miu" was the sound he reproduced when trying to meow. I'm not good at getting fancy names for cats.
Feel bad for your cat but at the same time glad to know how Japanese people deal with it. Thanks for such a precious share!
This Miu was named that for the same reason. The Japanese word for Meow is Miu.
This was a nice way to say goodbye. I was surprised by it.
Funny coincidence!! Now I have (my mom has, but I feel it like mine too, even if we are living in separate houses) a cat named TaMau based on its unique meow style! ;)
It says, Tamau? Interesting. I'd like to hear that.
Yes he does a sound that ressembles "maaau"! I would love to share it, but I've a "superstition". I've stopped posting photos of my cats on the internet (FB) because by coincidence every time I did that (3), not much time after those cats passed away (for stupid reasons). I decided since last cat died in 2009 I will only share "dead cats" photos. (It's silly but I won't risk!)
That makes sense. That's a pretty strange coincidence. Why take the risk?
I'll not take the risk for sure. And the day I post his photo, you'll know he had passed away. I thought of loosing him about two months ago, he's already 10 years old and having some health issues.
Hope you don't consider me totally crazy!
Hopefully, he's still got a long life ahead of him.