The Priests Directly After Death Choose The
Kaimiyo, Or Posthumous Name, Write It On A Tablet Of White Wood,
And
Seat themselves by the corpse; his zen, bowls, cups, etc., are
filled with vegetable food and are placed by his
Side, the
chopsticks being put on the wrong, i.e. the left, side of the zen.
At the end of forty-eight hours the corpse is arranged for the
coffin by being washed with warm water, and the priest, while
saying certain prayers, shaves the head. In all cases, rich or
poor, the dress is of the usual make, but of pure white linen or
cotton.
At Omagori, a town near Rokugo, large earthenware jars are
manufactured, which are much used for interment by the wealthy; but
in this case there were two square boxes, the outer one being of
finely planed wood of the Retinospora obtusa. The poor use what is
called the "quick-tub," a covered tub of pine hooped with bamboo.
Women are dressed for burial in the silk robe worn on the marriage
day, tabi are placed beside them or on their feet, and their hair
usually flows loosely behind them. The wealthiest people fill the
coffin with vermilion and the poorest use chaff; but in this case I
heard that only the mouth, nose, and ears were filled with
vermilion, and that the coffin was filled up with coarse incense.
The body is placed within the tub or box in the usual squatting
position. It is impossible to understand how a human body, many
hours after death, can be pressed into the limited space afforded
by even the outermost of the boxes. It has been said that the
rigidity of a corpse is overcome by the use of a powder called
dosia, which is sold by the priests; but this idea has been
exploded, and the process remains incomprehensible.
Bannerets of small size and ornamental staves were outside the
house door. Two men in blue dresses, with pale blue over-garments
resembling wings received each person, two more presented a
lacquered bowl of water and a white silk crepe towel, and then we
passed into a large room, round which were arranged a number of
very handsome folding screens, on which lotuses, storks, and
peonies were realistically painted on a dead gold ground. Near the
end of the room the coffin, under a canopy of white silk, upon
which there was a very beautiful arrangement of artificial white
lotuses, rested upon trestles, the face of the corpse being turned
towards the north. Six priests, very magnificently dressed, sat on
each side of the coffin, and two more knelt in front of a small
temporary altar.
The widow, an extremely pretty woman, squatted near the deceased,
below the father and mother; and after her came the children,
relatives, and friends, who sat in rows, dressed in winged garments
of blue and white. The widow was painted white; her lips were
reddened with vermilion; her hair was elaborately dressed and
ornamented with carved shell pins; she wore a beautiful dress of
sky-blue silk, with a haori of fine white crepe and a scarlet crepe
girdle embroidered in gold, and looked like a bride on her marriage
day rather than a widow.
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