The funeral was this morning. In Japan things happen pretty swiftly. In our village there are a few community units, and the chap who died wasn't in ours even though he lived just down the road, so I wasn't required to help out at the doo. I did go round with a neighbour to see the body. That happens when only close family or village folk are about and everybody is making plans for where to do the ceremony. The body is led out on a futon just aside from all the goings on and you sit by the head and light some incense. Most houses in this area have a big living room that opens out onto a garden area and this is all opened up with the flowers and coffin and whatnot at one end, so there is a lot of furniture and whatnot to be shifted to make way for all that. This picture shows the bit where the coffin is carried out with everybody kind of praying. There are a couple of priests at the back of the car, usually there is only one priest, but this chap had three, so a big doo. The hearse is like a smart pick up truck (really a cut off limousine) with a very ornate copper roof and wooden gubbins at the back. Most communities have a load of canvas tents to loan out for events like this and the big circles are rather tacky plastic flower decorations that feature very large at funerals. The name of the donor is given underneath on a banner. Before the car departs the horn is sounded to kind of ward off evil I think. It is a superstition to clasp your thumbs under your fingers when you are out and about and see one of these cars passing. Your thumb is your oya yubi, or parent finger. So hiding it is a kind of expression of the wish to be buried before your children, or in other words a wish for their long life. What else is there..The coffin is usually white for purity I suppose, the family ceremonialy nail it shut before it leaves the house using a pebble instead of a hammer, not sure why. Most people are cremated here, after the body has been burnt the bones are not crushed up, the family pick some of the bones from the pile using chopsticks, two people pick up each bone, so there is a tradition that you never pass food or anything else from chop sticks to chop sticks except at this time as it is bad luck. As you might guess I do rather stick out at these events as the only foreign chap on hand. People in the village have been very accepting of me and I have helped out at several funerals and other events over the years I have lived here. It is certainly a shame that those people didn't get to attend their own funerals. Obviously there are many aspects of the funeral ceremonies that are just plastic commercialism, but it is a very emotional time for everyone and there is a real sense of community in these rural areas as everyone helps to prepare for the departure.