Cremation Glass
Why are there windows on the lids of Japanese coffins?
It's not really a glass window, but a window with two shutters that open outward...see the pic:
http://www.dtint.cn/img/mambo/jpcoffin/A103ADH.jpg
I know cremation is much more popular there than burial, so why the window? Is it just to let the family see the face of the deceased, or is there something more, a belief or tradition attached? ( something like the old custom of burying people sitting up, the better to meet Christ at the second coming?)
Does anyone know from personal experience, or maybe lives in Japan?
In addition to see the face, before cremation, Japanese put some goods in coffin with him through this window, flowers, foods, and something he really loved for example sake, tobacco, if he loved fishing probably a lure, or something he had always used, probably his favorite pen, dress etc. Foods and flowers are offered to a tomb and family Buddhist alter so it's Japanese tradition and belief. Behind this I think there is a concept that he can bring these goods to the next world with him and live there happily.
However, most of crematorium have a regulation what can be put into, for a little bureaucratic reason, to avoid air pollution and dioxin, and you can't put something do not burn or take a long time to burn. And of course opening window and putting something are limited to only when the body is in pretty good condition...sometimes you can't open it.
Patti Smith - Philip Glass: Allen Ginsberg, On the Cremation of Chogyam Trungpa Vidyadhara (1987)
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