CREMATION IN JAPAN. How the Death are Disposed of in the Orient.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 338, 30 January 1889, Page 3

CREMATION IN JAPAN. How the Death are Disposed of in the Orient.

A cqrrespq^d.espi; of.; the^Norbh'; 1 China ' Daily News '^writes \> A.fevir weeks^agq atf, occaiaonal^coYr^spondentV.^^^ •,seht" t y'owi an 5 account i!of^cremauotf?amonfr»: , the). Chinese. Perhaps, a,,shcijijf-accoun,t -of •'creinaticm- "among the Jixpanese£will in-7 •' terest-ydftf 'i*eaders/ > ; universally burnd;heh\ dead:* / If, the, body is .to'beburied it is, squeezedin a sittingpo'sbure" , into an earthenware jar. If toibef burned, it 1 is placed in^ a t similar : manner < ( what the Japanese j would, call, a; cqfljri',*' but what,, everyone elso.wpuld calLa^tub.^, In- eithercase the appointed -rec^ptaclei is- so small that it is only, with, great that the, body- is placed .within Jit.* 4 The body, haying, been placed in ! the-, tub and ;the, lid fastened- on, ifc.is stood in f what in India would, be called" a palanquin, to be carriedto .the place -of burning.' Around. Kobe sevei*al_ of these places may be' found. One in the hills, just ;abo,ve,. the- Settlemnnb consists of a • large . barn-like structure built of brick, roofed with tiles. In this t building .six bodies . may' be cremated »' at one .time. '-(One enters from the porch through large doors ; the interior is black with smoke which .finds its way put through Venetian shutters which run all around just beneath' the roof. On the floor are six long trough's, across which the • firewood is -placed upon which the. coffin rests. , When, all is readystraw mats are. placed over the coffin. These, when ignited, soon set fire to the bamboo bands which encircle it, and it is not ; long before all, is in.a blaze. ■ place on, the -hill above XHiogo- (B-yun Yama; Ya-ki-ba)ia much mo'r,e elaborate. This building canbedistinguishedformilea by the high chimney which rises above it. .Jt is in the handp of a private company,.* who have made such arrangements that .there is nothing to ; offend" either eye or nostril. There are - several buildings connected with this establishment} the one ■in which the cremation takes place being distinguished .by_ the . before - menmentioned tall chimney. This ( building is built of red brick,. ;wibh very .foreign-look-ing, glass windows to light the interior. Upon .passing through the doors one discovers that the red brick building is, so to speak, an outer, shell, the actual place of burning -being a substantial erection inside. The whole pjace reminded me at once of an • English bakehouse. In the outer wall were the, foreign glass windows ;< in the inner, large iron doors. There were.eight of these . door 3, raised about ' two ifeet from the ground,' each door .being, aboub four feet by > three. Upon --opening the. doors . a brick ' chamber or oven was seen within. The- coffin, having been* placed' on, the properly* . "arranged wood , and -, covered with ■ blazing straw * mats, was shut in by the iron door •and left' for the -fire to. do its work. All the chambers were connected .with - the tall chimney, so that smoke and everything unpleasant are \ rapidly carried away and dispersed- in the upper air. • On- the third .day friends* come and search in the ashes for the teeth und upper, bone of the vertebnse. 1 iThese ane carefully* collected,' placed in .box and sent to the' village or town where the deceased was born. .There the box is-placed upon the shelf r before 'ther -family, shrine. Boxes for jthis^ purposely ery, nearly made may be purchased on th.c premises. In' Conversation with a J&pahese. dentisb, I asked what, wpuld be .'done, in the case of „ an ,man or j^who had no teeth. He said if -he. v fouadfoit necessary to extract a 'tooth, that booth would be sure to be asked for by its owner, to be by /him treasure^ up,' 1 that it might at some future time be 'placed in the little bd^- and sent with the, rest to the "ancestral shrine. He, a.dded that it was the elderly men chiefly-owho; asked". for their teeth-; the youngei\ men did not seem to attach much impor.tance-.to it. The,charge for cremation, seems to vary* from Bo cents to %\ anymore, y , .> ■ r • The shades of evening were closing in as I entered one of the -lovely^glens which abound in, the Kobe bills. As I traversed the winding path the young moon overhead shone brighter and brighter, and the stars one by one added their light as if to counteract the gloom of .the rapidly advancing darkness. The silence was intense, no breeze stirred the mobionless leaves.* ''The distant whistle of some steamboat in the bay or the roar of some train on its way to or from Osaka were all -that could be heard. Suddenly upon turning a cprper, . a large building could be dimly seen on the rising -ground in the distance. Volumes of. smoke * were issuing from beneath the roof, and through the large open doora the interior/ could be seen brilliantly lighted > up. i I advanced to the door and looked in. Strange -was the sight that met my gaze. Three large fires were , burning furiously, ' 'in each of which was a body in the act of being cremated. Through, the blinding smoke I could see the figures of -two men hovering about. These* men, in ■ their ragged clothing, looked scarcely human as, armed with pitchforks, they* silently moved from fire to lire, rearranging -the blazing logs or adding fresh fuel, as.occasion required. Such a sight held ,one rooted to the spot; , Indeed, the large, gloomy building, the blazing fires, the clouds of smoke, the roaring of the flames, especially t wh en contrasted with the quiet moonlitscene without, bub above all, the two ragged attendants, who, gliding about from time tp time, with their pitchforks stirred , the fires, sending showers of sparks up' into the smoke-laden air above, all this? presented , a seene s which, once gazed upon,rcould never be effaced from- the memory. »