What does it mean when a Japanese is buried with a katana?

gwendy85 · 27 Feb 2007

Just curious.

What does it mean when a Japanese man, whether soldier or not is buried with a katana (whether it is his or not) before, during or after WWII until present?

Hope to hear some replies soon

TeriyakiPinoy · 27 Feb 2007

Cool question! I always wondered it myself too! Maybe (im just thinking, maybe it wouldn't be true) but did it not mented: That the person in question was an honorable man? a Bushidou warrior like in The Philippines?

(im hope that i'm right because i dont know a thing about this, but i like to quick reply to everyone's thread.. hihihi..)

gwendy85 · 27 Feb 2007

Just wanna say 'Hi' to my fellow pinoy here! Hehehe. You like Teriyaki? Me too! Though right now, I'm having a ball eating sushi, and I hope to get to taste sake soon.

Anyway, back to the question, because I'd really like to know what it means when a Japanese man is buried with his katana. BTW, TeriyakiPinoy, what do u mean by 'Like in the Philippines'?

Hiroyuki Nagashima · 27 Feb 2007

KATANA is necessary for a funeral service regardless of a man, a woman.

gwendy85 · 28 Feb 2007

Hiroyuki Nagashima said:
KATANA is necessary for a funeral service regardless of a man, a woman.

eh? So does that mean EVERY Japanese is buried with his/her katana? ☝

nice gaijin · 28 Feb 2007

English wiki: Japanese funeral - Wikipedia
Japanese wiki article: 葬儀 - Wikipedia

The only mention of a katana is in the Japanese article, which briefly mentions a ﾅｽﾃｧ窶堙ｨ窶慊 mamori-gatana; a ceremonial knife that is placed on the chest before the body is cremated. According to the article, the reflective blade helps the deceased to cut down or ward off demons and their minions. I showed the article to my Japanese friend, and she had never heard of this custom. Funeral rites vary from place to place, and family to family. I do not believe the mamori-gatana is buried with the remains. I am not sure what hiroyuki meant by his post. :?

wiki said:
ﾋ?｢窶佚娯?堙ｰﾋ??窶冰窶堋ｷ窶堙ｩﾂ湘ｪﾂ坂?｡窶堙俄?堙債、ﾋ?｢窶佚娯?堙娯?ｹﾂｹ窶堙個湘｣窶堙俄?凪?堋焦凪?堋ｯ窶堙??堋ｵ窶堙?刃窶｢ﾂｨ窶堙ｰ窶冰窶堋ｭﾂ。窶堋ｱ窶堙ｪ窶堙ｰﾅｽﾃｧ窶堙ｨ窶慊≫?堙?津??堙披?燃窶藩??堙坂?｢ﾂ税ｽm窶堙固ｽﾃ絶?ｰﾃｯ窶堙?、窶慊≫?堙俄?堙ｦ窶堙≫?堙??凪?壺?堙ｰﾅｽa窶堙ｩ窶堙??堋｢窶堙≫?堋ｽﾋ?凪?督｡窶堙｢窶凪?壺?｢ﾂｨ窶堙固ｽg窶堋｢窶堙??堋ｳ窶堙ｪ窶堙??堋｢窶堋ｽ窶扠窶堋ｪﾅ津ｵ窶堙ｨ窶｢ﾂｨ窶堙ｰﾅ停┐窶堋ｪ窶堙ｩ窶堙娯?堙??慊≫?堙ｰ窶冰窶堋ｭ窶堋ｱ窶堙??堋ｪ窶凪?壺?堙ｦ窶堋ｯ窶堙??堋ｳ窶堙ｪ窶堋ｽﾂ。

gwendy85 · 28 Feb 2007

nice gaijin said:
English wiki: Japanese funeral - Wikipedia
Japanese wiki article: 葬儀 - Wikipedia
The only mention of a katana is in the Japanese article, which briefly mentions a ﾅｽﾃｧ窶堙ｨ窶慊 mamori-gatana; a ceremonial knife that is placed on the chest before the body is cremated. According to the article, the reflective blade helps the deceased to cut down or ward off demons and their minions. I showed the article to my Japanese friend, and she had never heard of this custom. Funeral rites vary from place to place, and family to family. I do not believe the mamori-gatana is buried with the remains. I am not sure what hiroyuki meant by his post. :?

Thanks, nice gaijin, but I was wondering more about the katanas, with the whole scabbard thing. I think it was an officer's sword of WWII.

yukio_michael · 28 Feb 2007

TeriyakiPinoy said:
(im hope that i'm right because i dont know a thing about this, but i like to quick reply to everyone's thread.. hihihi..)

Perhaps it's better to be only thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all dobut, but hey, what do I know?

nice gaijin · 28 Feb 2007

gwendy85 said:
Thanks, nice gaijin, but I was wondering more about the katanas, with the whole scabbard thing. I think it was an officer's sword of WWII.

There is no mention of any other sword in either article on wikipedia. I doubt such a tradition exists. It seems that the aforementioned mamori-gatana is more like a small tanto than an actual sword.

Hiroyuki Nagashima · 28 Feb 2007

When a soldier was killed in action at the battle front,
Because he is cremated, and it is sent to the Japanese bereaved,
KATANA is not buried.
The bereaved keep it as a keepsake.

By the way, KATANA and a pistol are the personal purchase.

MajideSaiaku · 28 Feb 2007

Yeah, Japanese people are cremated and their remains placed within small family "tombs".

The Katana were most likely part of a soldiers personal effects.

gwendy85 · 1 Mar 2007

Hmmmm....

Well, here's the situation. The man is not cremated (I don't know why) and TWO swords are buried with him (I just found this out) and put it in the coffin with him. The first was a katana, scabbard and everything, like that of WWII Japanese Officer's swords, and the other was smaller...I don't know, but I think it was that other one nice gaijin talked about. I mean, it looked like a samurai sword to me, but I thought it was too short.

I appreciate all the input

What does it mean when a Japanese is buried with a katana?

gwendy85

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