Talk:Japanese funeral

Origin of the burial mounds from Korea?

Around 300 the usage of burial mounds for important leaders came from Korea to Japan. : Chris 73, what do you mean by this and which source did you refer to? If you mean keyhole-shaped mounds (前方後円墳), it is incorrect. See ja:前方後円墳. Their origin is unknown and there is no precedent in Korea although newer and smaller tombs can be found in southwestern Korea. --Nanshu 02:38, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Hi Nanshu. I am not a deep expert in Japanese cultural history, and unfortunately I can't read much Japanese. So when I wrote the article i was limited to english sources, one of which said that the usage of burial mounds came from Korea. (see [1]). It seems this refers to a style used before the use of keyhole shaped mounds (which are unique to japan). Please feel free to correct any errors you find in the article. I also modified the text of the article a bit accordingly. -- Chris 73 | Talk 04:39, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply and I'm sorry for not replying in a long time. I regret to say that you referred to an obsolete theory that was supported half a century ago. During the period of postwar economic growth a lot of preceding Yayoi period tombs were discovered. One of the two kinds of these tombs are linked with Kofun period ones. Today it is generally supported that tomb mounds was an outgrowth of Japan itself. As for continental influence, murals of stone chambers in the 7th and 8th centuries are often associated with Northern Dynasty culture. --Nanshu 02:32, 6 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Guess I learned something new today. Thanks for improving that point, and Happy Editing -- Chris 73 | Talk 02:46, 6 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Hi Nanshu, Could you name your sources for this point? You say "generally supported" but won't name who you are referring to. For me the information that these tombs were first in Japan to be then imported to the Asian mainland is absolutely new (And I am an expert and can read Japanese). Any source in any language science community peer reviewed platform would help. Thank you!

Adams' apple

The Adam's apple is the most significant bone to be put in the urn. - I always thought the adam's apple is tissue, not bone, and am surprised it can withstand cremation.

In this case bone can also refer to a hardened Cartilage, see Adam's apple and Larynx. The picking up of the adams apple is referred to in many different sources. -- Chris 73 Talk 13:03, Mar 1, 2005 (UTC)

Timing of events

How long is it from time of death to the wake to the funeral? Thanks, Chris 01:22, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

It can be anything between 1 and 3 days, sometimes. My bf's grandma passed away on Dec. 26. The wake took place on the 28th and the funeral on the 29th. I have participated in many funeral services in Japan (mostly for co-worker's relatives) but this was the first time I joined the bone picking ceremony and also sat with the family during all the services. Definitely was not in the mood for any new year party last year. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.196.15.134 (talk) 01:15, 20 January 2013 (UTC)

Japanese funeral industry - POV

The section on the Japanese funeral industry appears to have a negative point of view, and therefore is not in line with the WP:NPOV policy. If it can be either supported with references (which the whole article needs), or described as someone else's argument, that would help. --zandperl 23:51, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Additionally, most of this section is not unique to Japan. I propose that most of it be removed from this article, leaving the country-specific portions (such as average prices). If there's an appropriate article to merge the other information into, and it could be done so in a more NPOV manner (and one that does not violate any previous consensus reached for that article), then that can be done to preserve any parts that are worth keeping but are not specific to Japan. --Icarus 19:39, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

The article also compares alleged corruption in the Japanese funeral industry with alleged practices in the United States in the 1970's. It then references the controversial book written by Jessica Mitford. That book has never been accepted as a seriously researched scholarly work. No proof is offered that these alleged practices have ever been a part of American funeral practices. --FD1951 20:56, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

jōshi

Does anyone know the literal meaning of this, or sources stating that it's still common in Japan? Anything at all in reference to this? FerventDove 07:49, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

I added the kanji, and there is a bit about it at ja:心中 if you can read Japanese. Neier 12:55, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Religion?

Odd that neither "Buddhism/Buddhist" nor "temple" appear in the opening paragraph. Buddhism is largely associated with death and funerals in Japan, and many people do not worship at or otherwise associate with temples except for at funerals, in part because of this self-reinforcing association of the temple with a place only for funerals. This association also played an important role in the Meiji period "State Shinto" movement, as Shinto was being pushed and certain groups of people (namely Shinto priests) were forbidden to have Buddhist funerals. LordAmeth 00:32, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

99.82% cremation rate.

I added a link to the Cremation Society with 2005 statistics (having edited the article anonymously by mistake).

This site was quoted from BBC News "here", so I feel it would be a useful source for all other cremation figures needed elsewhere on Wikipedia. Turbanator 16:10, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

"Since 1995"

The article says: "Since 1995, 1,210 people have committed suicide on the lines of Japanese railways, 156 of them on the Chūō line."

Interesting, though without a citation or even an indication of the end-point of this time period is (1995-2000? 1995-2008?) it's not a very precise figure. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.71.164.107 (talk) 03:24, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

I have removed this section, since it is uncited and meaningless without a precise time period. --DAJF (talk) 02:08, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

This article is not really informative about current normal practices

The article as it stands is not very informative about the current practices, there is a desire often seen in articles about Japan to pick out a few extreme practices and emphasize those, but not to discuss the most common practices. For example the article doesn't mention 告別式 (kokubetsushiki) at all, and before I edited it just now there was a big section without any citations about price gouging right at the top of the article, which without a reference could just be something someone made up. The cited reference to Japan Times about expenses doesn't support the claim either. This article really needs a lot of work I think and it is rather silly. JoshuSasori (talk) 04:21, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Shinto funerals

The article states that 91% of funerals are Buddhist ceremonies. What about the rest? There is no description of Shinto funerals which are still conducted, for example for the imperial family (Death and funeral of Emperor Shōwa). --Countakeshi (talk) 20:39, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

Funeral/Burial cultures in Okinawa/Ryûkyû cultures

As Japan encompasses the area of Ryûkyû cultures as well there should be a note on the existence of other burial cultures than buddhism within the range of Japan. Alone a link to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyuan_religion and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyuan_religion#At_the_tomb might do.

Title is misleading

I would suggest to change the title of the article to "Funerals in Japan" or "Funeral culture in Japan" as there is no such thing as one "Japanese funeral". As it is discussed above there are several practices within modern Japan. Wurstverse (talk) 02:12, 3 February 2020 (UTC)

Funeral

Yrs 102.16.42.32 (talk) 06:43, 15 March 2022 (UTC)