FUNERALS IN JAPAN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1586, 18 January 1884, Page 2

FUNERALS IN JAPAN.

Correspondence New Orleans Times Democrat. If it were evening you might see a Japanese funeral procession. The funerals here are always conducted at sunset in accordance with a superstition that is rather beautiful than otherwise. The procession is headed by priests s \ and a company of musicians, who play upon samiseus and beat tom-toms. The ' coffin is a wooden tub in which the deceased is squatted as he has lived with his feet tucked under him. There is this difficulty, however, the faco of the dead man is looking towards the north whereas this position is religious avoided by theliving Japanese. Indeed, the points of the compass are frequently marked on the ceilings of the sleeping-rooms that .the sleeper may arrange his mats so. as to avoid this unfavourable position. TheWMlthy class are buried in earthem jaraj,' gad of wooden tubs, but thomodeofi.iJ|geinent is the same. These peculiar shaped coffins do not take up the spaco required by American caskets, and burial need not be so large, One priest in the procession carries an oblong tablet, containing tho "dead' name" of the deceased, ,■ and another bears the precious lotus blossom. If you follow tho cortege you will find your way into a surprisingly; well-kept cemetery, with headstones all erect and fresh flowers strewn upon most of (ho graves, Litanies are chanted, and tho. body is lowered into, a shallow gravo lined with cement, Then a life-sized pink lotus plant is placed upon the fresh mound, a lacquer tray of bowls of tea or sake, beans and sweetmeats provided near by, and you walk away from the spot strangely moved by the , solemn, unfamiliar spectacle.