(1) A man in his eighties told us the story.
I was born in Koya, Watari.
My grandfather passed away around 1955.
When he breathed his last breath, our family told his death to the leader of Koya first of all.
The leader told members of the group to tell this news to the neighbors and the family relatives.
The leader made several groups and allocated roles.
One group cleaned and tidied up the house so as to do the funeral service.
The other group prepared all the necessary utilities for the funeral, such as a coffin, a white cotton kimono for the body, and so forth.
Those days, we had to make everything by ourselves for the funeral.
The group of women prepared all the meals and dinners for all of us.
The first day, the monk was asked for Makurakyo, the service that chanted a sutra near the pillow of the deceased.
The wake was held a night before the funeral.
After the monk’s sutra chanting for the wake, all the attendees dined on a vegetarian dish.
At the morning of the funeral day, two or three Omoyaku who wore white happi went to the graveyard to dig a hole for the coffin.
At one o clock in the afternoon, the funeral service started at our own house.
After the funeral, the attendees were told to be line up in order. What to have in their hand was also ordered. A man who distributed treats to the neighbors who stood for seeing off my grandfather on the way to the temple was at the head of the line. This was followed by handmade bamboo flower stands each with a height of 1 meter, five color frags, banners with drawn animals’ heads, gold and silver artificial lotus flowers and so forth. The person at the end of the line followed the coffin. Women who were relatives of the family covered their head with a towel size white cotton cloth.
After coming back from the graveyard, a dinner with fish was served.
Every morning till the seventh day, we visited the grave and knocked the underground coffin by poking with the bamboo stick which was stuck into the gravesite. This action was meant to greet the deceased.
On the seventh day, we invited all women who helped us and gave them meals. Small presents to express our gratitude were prepared, such as handkerchiefs, a pair of socks or aprons.
Every seven days until the 49th day, we visited the grave every morning.
(2) A woman in her sixties told us a story of her step-grandfather in 1976.
She lives in Odaira, Yamamoto.
On, the first day, when my step-grandfather died, we first reported the death to the leader of Odaira.
There were four groups in Odaira. One of the groups which were members of ten, came to our place for cleaning and tidying up the house to prepare for the funeral.
We asked the monk for Makurakyo.
On the second day. in the morning, the leader called two groups consisting of about 20 members.
One of the groups was going to visit our relatives and neighbors telling our funeral schedule in pairs.
The leader ordered the coffin from the undertaker.
making all sets of tools for the funeral, such as, bamboo candle stand, trays, portable gate, sets of straw foot wares for the relatives, the relative women’s scarf, bamboo flower vase and so on.
Women prepared the meals and sewed white cotton Kimono for my step-grandfather.
The family boiled water and prepared a big wooden tub to wash the body, and then put on the white cotton Kimono for him.
The wake was held at night. A vegetarian dish was served.
On the third day, in the morning, we went to the crematory.
At lunch, the dish on a four-legged tray was served for all attendees.
At one o’clock in the afternoon, the funeral service started.
After the service, we all lined up and marched towards the graveyard.
On the way to the graveyard, there were people who put their hands together and saw my step-grandfather off.
We distributed treats to them. As we arrived the graveyard, we turned three times in a circle and then laid his ashes to rest in the grave.
We went back to our house. On the way back, we changed straw foot ware to the normal foot ware. The straw foot ware was left on the wayside.
The dinner served was Sashimi, grilled fish, two dishes of vegetables and wine.
The night of the sixth day was Otaiya. We served walnut Mochi to the attendees.
The seventh day and the twenty first day, we visited the grave and after that, we served light meals to the attendees.
The forty-ninth day, after visiting the grave, we served rice cakes to the attendees.
(3)A woman in her seventies told us about the funeral of an old woman who lived next door.
The place where she lived was Minammachi, Watari.
It was around 1985.
On the first day, all members of the neighborhood were asked to come.
Women were responsible for the meals.
There was a cooking leader who knew everything about meals.
She wrote down the daily menu and hung it on the wall.
Men were making tools for the deceased woman.
They started sitting on the straw mat in front of the barn.
They all knew what to do. Young men learned from the elder people. How to make such and such was passed on to the next generation.
We used to make everything, but at that time the coffin and the white cotton kimono could be bought from the undertaker’s office.
On the night of the second day, the wake was held.
We served a vegetarian meal which is a rice dish cooked with glutinous rice, a miso-soup with taro in it and five other vegetable dishes.
On the third day, in the morning, people went to the crematory.
We did not walk from the house to the grave, as had been customary in the past.
We had to prepare the lunch, so we stayed at the house and kept ourselves busy.
After coming back from the crematory, attendees took lunch.
At one o’clock, the funeral service started in her own house.
After the service, the dining ritual started. A four-legged tray was provided to each attendee. The dishes were prepared by one of the fish shops in Watari.
After we laid her ashes to rest in the grave, the meal was served to everyone who had attended the funeral and helpers like me. The Azuki rice, onishime, kinpira and the clear soup with chicken in it were served.
Every morning until the seventh day, we all visited the grave. The family of the deceased woman prepared rice dumplings and treats to serve us attendees.
Every seven days until the 49th day, we repeated the same routine.
The detailed specification was written, such as dress code, division of roles, how to welcome them, menu for the dinner and how many people should dine together with them, and so forth.
The following report is an excerpt from " Preaching journey of Yugyo 51st Fuson in Tohoku " by Fumio Tamamuro
This report is written based on the “Diary of Yugyo ” which is kept in Shoujyoukouji, the head temple of Jisyu.
“We started Kakuda Senpukuji at 9 am, and arrived at Watari Sennenji at 11 am. … … The governor of Watari was Date Awanokami. They prepared everything completely. They built a new house for our stay. 10 straw rice bags, vegetables, food stuffs, charcoal sacks and so forth were brought to Sennenji one after the other.
… … On 11th December, we started Sennenji at 7am, and arrived at Sendai Shinpukuji at 2 pm. … …"
This report also showed how the Shonin and his party was given special permission for the travel and were protected by the Tokugawa Shogunate. They travelled in numbers as large as a Daimyo.
