Shinto Funerals

Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan. Being primarily animistic, Shinto has no real founder or any written scriptures. The Shinto religion has many temples, but people do not visit them like Christians go to church. It is a religion that is based on humans being good in nature.

Believers worship many deities such as Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, who is the ancestress of the Imperial Family. However, since one's ancestors are highly revered, they too are worshipped. Great care is taken when planning funerals and anniversaries of recent deaths and in the upkeep of the grave site and home shrines. The photograph to the left is of a typical grave site in Japan. Even though it is large in size, only ashes are buried beneath it. Usually fresh flowers are brought weekly. A bowl of sand is used to hold the incense stick that is lit at the beginning of each visit.

Incense is also lit before praying at the home shrines. Normally there is at least one ancestor's picture hanging above the shrine. Each morning, food and drink are put at the shrine for an offering to their ancestors. At this shrine, the red pedestal holds chocolate, one of their ancestor's favorite foods. The dishes and flower vases are cleaned daily. These daily rituals are of the utmost importance; they are performed even before breakfast is prepared.

Preparation is the key to Shinto ceremonies, including burials. Each stage in a burial has to be precisely performed according to centuries-old protocols. There are over 20 procedures. Four of the most interesting are: kichu-fuda, koden, kotsuage, and bunkotsu. Kichu-fuda is a period of intense mourning, which lasts for one day. During this period, mourners wear solid black and some may carry a rosary. A Shinto priest is needed to perform the rituals to begin and end this day. Here the priest is performing the rituals of chanting, singing, and praying to begin the period of mourning. Because the mourning period is only one day, several other steps take place during this period, such as koden.

Koden is the giving of an obituary gift. Friends and family of the deceased give monetary gifts to the family. This helps to reduce the financial burden of the burial services. Here, these three men are accepting gifts on behalf of the family.

Kotsuage is the gathering of a person's ashes. In the event that the bones do not burn completely, family members remove the bones with chopsticks and place them in the urn along with the ashes. This urn is then placed at the shrine for the services of the priest. Then it is removed and buried at the gravesite.
However, not all of the ashes are buried. During the bunkotsu stage, some ashes are given to close family members to put in the home shrines. One shrine, like the one above, may have the ashes of several ancestors. If the ashes are not passed down through the family, they will be returned to the grave.

Shintoism may be simple in nature, but it is very complex in terms of ceremonies. The customs leave no room for personalization. Everything has to be done a certain way at a certain time. Because they offer food and pray to their ancestors at least once a day, it is very hard to forget about them. Also, they hold anniversary ceremonies on the first, third, seventh, 13th, and 33rd years following someone's death. It would be nice to know that one would be remembered so long after he or she had passed away. It is just not something that the American culture concentrates on.

There are alot more aspects of this shinto religion that are personnal to the believer . if you are of the shinto religion please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to tell us your ideas and individual beliefs so others can share interest in you and so we have all the infomation users need.

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