Monday September 29, 2008
A touch of whimsy
A SIP OF MATCHA
By SARAH MORI
Life in Japan is filled with quirkiness, even in cemeteries.
THERE is an old Japanese adage: Atusa samusa mo Higan made (Heat and cold last until Higan). Higan is a seven-day period around the vernal and autumnal equinox €“ three days prior to the equinox and three days after it.
The etymology of higan (which originated from Buddhism) means “the other shore” €“ a common euphemism referring to the realm where departed souls dwell. Higan is a biannual observation. In Japan, both Vernal and Autumnal Equinox Days are national holidays to mark the changing of seasons and also to visit ancestral graves to pay respect (ohaka mairi) during higan.
The burial plot behind a farmhouse and (pic below) the ‘please do not urinate’ notice. According to the Gregorian calendar, Vernal Equinox Day falls on March 20 or 21, and the length of day and night becomes equal. The day becomes longer than the night from that day onwards in the Northern Hemisphere. Conversely, the day starts getting shorter than the night after Autumnal Equinox Day on Sept 23 or 24.
My family and relatives went to visit the graves of my father-in-law and his sister in Kawasaki on Sept 23. The cemetery is humongous and well-maintained, except for a row of squat toilets with no flushing system which still exists. In spring, cherry blossoms line the main road in the cemetery, making it look like a park.
Every time we visit that cemetery, we are amused at the Japanese signboards near the two roads leading to my father-in-law’s grave.
On the right side of one road is a shelter with many benches for visitors to rest or have meals during ohaka mairi. To prevent fire accidents, a signboard there reads: “Barbeque is forbidden here!”
Hmm. A barbeque party in a cemetery?
Somewhere beside another road stand two signboards on the grassy spot with some tombs nearby. To avoid menace to others, one signboard warns: “No golfing here!”
Now, how does anyone practise or play golf on such limited space, and where would the golf balls land? Either on someone’s head or grave, I guess.
A placard near that signboard shows a pictograph: “Do not walk your dog here.” All these signboards cracked us up. At first, we were bemused. We wondered who would play golf, barbecue, or walk his or her dog there.
“Some ‘people’ must have been having fun partying and playing, eh?” my husband jested.
One would think that even the dead are not spared from these rules, or worse still, imagine barbecuing as the cheapest way of cremation. Nonetheless, I suppose these signboards are put up because there are cases of people misusing the cemetery.
Once, it was reported on television the menace posed by golf enthusiasts who practised golfing on the vacant plot near a river bank. There were complaints as passers-by had been hit by golf balls. The river was cluttered with golf balls. Some inconsiderate people still paid no heed, despite being warned.
While passing by a big car park in my neighbourhood, I was surprised to see a man taking out his golf club from the boot of his car. He started to practise swinging it in the vacant lot next to his car.
On two occasions, I encountered a man swinging his golf club by the roadside on my way home. He stopped and turned away when he saw me coming. Whoa! Such great passion for golf!
This is not the only quirk I came across in my neighbourhood. On a steep road behind my place is a small private graveyard with several graves at one corner. There are many rows of houses nearby. Development notwithstanding, such a graveyard still remains.
In the olden days and in rural Japan, most farmhouses have their own private graveyard. A narrow tarred path beside a farmhouse down the lane nearby my place intrigued me. Thinking that it was a short cut to the main road, I took that path one day. It led me to a dead end €“ a burial plot with many tombs of the deceased members of the farmer’s family. An unexpected and eerie discovery! The residents of the farmhouse can just step out from their backyard to visit the graves anytime.
At Negishi park in Yokohama, there are announcements from the PA system and signboards to remind dog owners to bring home their pooches’ waste, and picnickers to bring back their own trash.
There is a notice pasted on a fence in my neighbourhood, with the same request to dog owners walking their dogs. But recently, there are two notices €“ one hanging on a clothes hanger hooked onto a tree above some bushes, and another pasted on a fence. On both notices were written: “Please do not urinate here!”
Salesmen and taximen often park their vehicles along that street to rest or sleep during their break. Are those warnings for man or to remind dog owners not to allow their pets to urinate there? Ah, the idiosyncrasies of life in Japan!
Sarah Mori is a Malaysian married to a Japanese and has been living in Japan since 1992.
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