Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-03-01
CREMATION IN JAPAN.
How the Dead Are Disposed OF in the Land of
the MIkadO.
North China News

North China News.
The japanese almost universally burn
their dead II the body is to be buried il
is squeezed in sitting posture in an
esrJhen9are Jar. If TO be burned il Is
placed III similar maGner IN what the
j a psuess wouip call coffin, but what
every one else would call 4 tub. In either
case the appointed rece ptacle is so small
that it Is only with great difficulty that
the body is placed within 1t. The body
having been placed in the tub and then
fastened on, 1t is stood in what in Ind a
would be called palanqptn, to be car
ried to the place of burning. Around
Kobe several of these places may be
found. One in the hills just above the
settlement consists of large, barn-like
struc turs built of brick, rooted with
tiles. In this building six bodies may
be cremated at one time. ODe entors
from the porch through large doors; the
interior Il black with smoke, which finds
it's way through Venetian shutters, which
run all round just beneath the roof. Ga
the floor are six long troughs, across
which the fire wood is placed on which
the coffin rests. When all is ready straw
mats are placed over the coffin. These,
when lgnited, soon set fire TO the bamboo
bands which enclrcie 1t, and 1t Is not long
before all Is III q blaze.
Another place on the hill above Hiogo
(E-yun Yama, Yakiba) is much more
elaborate. This building can be dlstin
guished for miles by the high chimney
which rises above it. II is in the hands
of q private company who have made
such arrang ements that there is nothing
TO offend either eye or nostril. There are
several buildings connected with this
establishment, the one in which the Gre
nation takes place being distinguished
b. the before mentioned tall chimney.
The building is built of red brick, with
foreign looking glass windows 10 light
the interior. UpOa pPssiEg through the
doors one discovers that the red brick
building Ia, SO to speak, an outer shell,
the actual plack of burning being sub
stantial erection ineide. The whole place
reminded me at once of an English bake
house. In the outer wall were the foreign
glass windows, IN the inner large iron
doors, raised about two feet from the
ground, each door being about four by
three feet. Upon opening the door q
brick chamber or oven WAS seen within.
The coffin, having been placed on the
properly arranged wood, and covered
with blazing straw mats, and shut in by
the iron door and left for the fire to do
IT'S work. All the chambers we're CON
nected with .he tall chimney, so that
smoke and everything unpleasant are
rapidly carried away and dispersed in
the u = per air. On the third day friends
come aud search in the ashes for the
teeth and upper bone of the vertebre.
These are carefully collected and placed
lDx 20
town where the deceased was born.
There the box is placed upon tho shelf
before the family shrine. Boxes for this
purpose, neatly made, may be purchased
in the premises. In conversation with q
japanese dentist, | asked, him what
would be done in the case OF an old man,
| or one who had no teeth. He said If he
| fCuud it necessary to extract a tooth that
tooth would be sure to be asked for by
its owner, TO be by MIN treasured mp,
that it might a. some future time be plac
ed in the littls box and sent with the rest
to the ancestral shrine. He added that
it was elderly men chiefly who asked for
their teeth: the younger men did not
seem 70 attach much Importance them.
The charge for cremation seems vary
from so cents to 5 i and more.
The shades of evening were closing in
as l entered one of the lovely glens
which abound in the Kobe bills. AS |
rraversed the winding path the young
moon over head shOne brighter and
brighter, and the stars, one by one, added
toeir light as If to couutergct the gloom
of the rapidly advancing darkness. The
silence WAS intense-nc breeze stirred
motionless leaves. The distant whistle
of some steamboat in the bay or the roar
of some train on its way to and from
Osaka was ell that could be heard. Sud
denly, upon turning a corner, large
building could be dimly seen Ou the
rising grouud in the distance. Volumes
of SNAKE were issuing from beneath the
roof, and through the large OpOn doors
the interior could be seen brilliantly
lighted up. I advanced to the door and
looked in. Strange wGs the sight that
met my gaze. Three large fires were
burning furiously. il each of which was
q body in the act of being cremated.
Through the binding smoke | could see
the figures of two meE lowering abOnt
These men, in their ragged clothing,
looked scarcely human, as, armed with
pitchfOrhs, they silently moved from fire
10 fire, rearrauging the blazing logs, or
adding fresh fuel as occasion required.
Such a sight held one rooted the spot.
Indeed, the large, gloomy buildings, the
blazing fires. the clouds of smoke the roar
ing of the flames. especially when con
trasted with the quiet moonlI5 scene
without but, above all, the two ragged
attendants, who, gliding, about from time
to time with their pitchforks : Tired the
fires, sending showers of sparks up into
the smoke-iaden air above-all this pre-
L. -
could never be effaced from the memory.