Golden Week-Sunday

Japanese call the week from April 29--May 5, Golden Week.  April 29 was the old Emperor's birthday, May 4 is constitution day and May 5 is children's day.  Many places make all the days in between holidays too.  This is the most expensive time to buy overseas tickets.

On Sunday, the old Saniku Gakuin campus was open for former students to enjoy a picnic there.  My husband and I were married on this old campus 32 years ago.  However it was so misty that we gave up to eat outside and moved to the church fellowship room.  This is the group that met with us.  

Looking on from her photo

While the rest of us enjoyed a wonderful meal, the deceased looked on from her photo with her bones in the urn.  Her food went untouched.  

This ends the funeral story.  

Tomorrow I'll be uploading new photos and catching you up with what is more recent news.

meal after funeral

After the funeral the family and close friends went to a Japanese fish restaurant that was near their house.  They had made special request for me a veggie meal.  It was really nice of them and everything was delicious.  Above is our family from Chiba.  Below is my husband's brother-in-law and his two sons giving everyone a chance to drink.
While everyone was eating the immediate family went around serving everyone drinks and stopping to visit with each family  member or friend.  This part of the culture is quite foreign to me as I think the family should be the ones served not be the servers!  But is important for me to observe these traditions as I may have to do that someday too.

funeral tension breaker

People sometimes wonder if children belong at a funeral.  Well, at this funeral there was this darling little girl who helped to break the sadness of the funeral.  Here she is with her mother who is teaching her to bow to the family after she has pinched the incense.  I think everyone was truly happy this little girl was there.  It is also good for the girl to learn at this age the proper manners for funerals.  Hey, I'm still learning too!

Funeral part

The buddist priest comes in in his royal robes, sits on a little stool infront of the little temple and her photo and starts his sing-song chant with an occasional hitting of a gong and a gourd.  Then sometimes he takes a wig like broom and waves it back and forth.  Even the Japanese say they don't understand what he is saying.  I could catch a few words but had no idea even their meanings.  Toward the end of his chanting, first the family and then the guests come up and take 3 pinches of incense and bring it up to like smell it(but I was told you are not supposed to smell it).  Then the incense is put over in another box.  

ceremonial washing?

After picking up the bones,  the family are to wash their hands, before going into the funeral ceremony proper.  I skipped this part to take photos, but wondered how their hands were dirty?  The bones must have been very clean after such heat?  Also the chopsticks were used so never touched the bones by hand.  

Chopsticks to pick up bones

Here are the bones.  Japan does not burn clear to ashes like USA.
Family members are given chopsticks to pick up the bones and put in the urn.  In the end the funeral people take a scraper to get get the last tiny pieces.