At a Buddhist funeral in Japan, the most visible role of the priest may be chanting sutras. But the priest is not there simply to read aloud. The priest is responsible for the religious rites that send the deceased off according to the teachings and traditions of that Buddhist school.
Today, much of the practical work at a funeral is handled by the funeral company. Staff guide guests, manage the schedule, organize the order of incense offering, and keep the ceremony moving smoothly. The priest, by contrast, is responsible for the religious side of the funeral.
Chanting is central, but the exact rites differ by Buddhist school. In some traditions, the deceased receives a posthumous Buddhist name known as a kaimyo. In Jodo Shinshu, for example, the term homyo is used instead. Rites sometimes described as giving a final spiritual send-off also vary by school, so there is no single set of actions that every Buddhist priest performs at every funeral.
That is why simply saying, “The priest reads sutras,” misses much of the point. Through chanting and other rites, the priest places the death within the religious framework of that Buddhist tradition and gives the funeral its Buddhist meaning.
One striking feature of religion in Japan is that many people who rarely visit temples in everyday life still call a Buddhist priest when a family member dies. They may not think much about Buddhist doctrine in daily life and may have little regular contact with a temple. Yet when someone dies, Buddhism often becomes part of the process of saying goodbye.
Shinto is also very familiar in Japan. People may visit shrines at New Year or even have a Shinto wedding, yet turn to Buddhism for a funeral. Shinto also has its own funeral tradition, known as shinsosai, but Buddhist funerals are much more common.
This reflects the flexible way many Japanese people relate to religion. Daily life is not necessarily organized around choosing either Shinto or Buddhism as an exclusive faith. Different traditions may appear at different stages of life, and death has long been especially closely connected with Buddhist practice.
The mourners may not understand every word of the sutras being chanted. Even so, once the chanting and rites begin, the family and other mourners enter a formal period of saying farewell to the deceased.
A useful way to think about a Japanese funeral is that the funeral company manages the ceremony, while the Buddhist priest performs the religious rites. The priest is not the master of ceremonies, and is not present simply to chant. The priest gives the funeral its Buddhist form and performs the rites through which the deceased is mourned and commemorated.
