Japanese | Word of the Day

What’s up people!

I was out helping Yui shop today and figured that the occasion she is buying for would make for an intriguing post. Therefore, the word of the day is お葬式/おそうしき/O-soushiki; a bit morbid, but happy Friday anyway!

What is お葬式/おそうしき？
O-soushiki means “funeral”. Dark, right? But I didn’t choose this word for its kanji or interesting sound like in previous posts. This post is significantly more related to the culture aspect of the occasion.

So what are you buying?
Well, in Japan there is a strict idea of what constitutes appropriate dress attire for different occasions including, graduation(卒業式/sotsugyoushiki) and wedding ceremonies(結婚式/kekkonshiki). From a western perspective, this is very bizarre but the convenience of
it generally makes sense. Unfortunately, the styles available to women specific aren’t very stylish or thoughtful. Because of this, it’s incredibly easy to pick out people in a crowd attending such events. Actually, I’m riding the train right now and see 3 different people wearing such attire. Take a look:

The lady next to the door is going to/coming from a funeral. The 2 women all the way in the back are wearing special kimono for graduation(college).

Where would you buy such things?
Good question! If you take a look at the photo at the very top of this post, you can see a shop that caters specifically to individuals purchasing funeral attire(that’s where we were). The shop sells the full suit with the choice of pants or skirt, prayer beads, envelopes(intended for money given to the bereaved family), and a bag(in which you put the envelope).

The strangest part of all of this is that Japanese people(in general) aren’t even really that religious or spiritual. All of these things are simply customary, but funerals are typically arranged by a temple associated with the family. And temples propagate Buddhism, so Japanese superficially claim to be Buddhist.

Anyway, that’s enough of that. I’m not here to preach about how the Japanese tend to act. Yui didn’t even buy her suit from a traditional store like this-she is too cool for that. Lol

Until next time,
Peace