When a man whose days have exceeded threescore years and ten passes away, the words that his friends come and sometimes utter to his surviving family sound more like congratulation than condolence; it is not, however, as a cynic might suppose, that they congratulate the family upon having ridden itself of a peevish old man who was a damper upon all its innocent enjoyments; it is because they consider it a matter for congratulation that he should have lived to such an age, and since death must come to all, he was to be envied for having succeeded so long in keeping off that unwelcome guest. They often add the wish that similar good fortune may be theirs. The aged as a rule live happily, except such as have no relatives nor any one else to depend upon; and though they may complain of the infirmities that come with years, they never lack sympathy and, so long as they do not make themselves disagreeable, are treated with tenderness by their friends and neighbours. The respect for old age, which is one of the fundamental precepts of Confucian philosophy, is a national characteristic in Japan no less than in China.
When an illness takes a serious turn or an injury is likely to prove fatal, the members of the family are, if they live apart, summoned home and gather around the death-bed. It is considered unfilial, and unfortunate if unintentional, not to be present at a parent’s death, as, for instance, children are warned not to go to bed with their socks on even in the coldest weather since, in that case, they would be unable to attend at their parents’ death-bed. When the patient is in the last article of death, his wife and children put their mouths close to his ear and call him by name; recalled by the dear voices, life flickers for a moment and then goes out. And when the glazed eyes and rigid face show that all is over, his lips are wetted with drops of water; so universal is this custom that the expression “to wet the dying lips with water” has come to signify the tending of a patient in his last illness, as when we say that the wife should be younger than the husband since it is her duty to wet his dying lips with water. The folding screen which is usually set around the head of the bed to soften the daylight in the sick-room, is put upside down. The bed is replaced by a matting, and the quilt is put over the body with its ends reversed so that its foot is over the dead man’s breast; and a white cloth is laid over the face to hide it as its exposure is believed to be an obstacle to the soul’s journey on the road to Hades. A table of plain white wood is set at the head of the bed. At the furthest end is placed a tablet of white wood, on which the Buddhistic name of the deceased is written in Indian ink. The Buddhistic name is the name by which the deceased will be called in prayers and at his temple; he may have received it in his lifetime as many people ask priests of high virtue and reputation to give them such a name, or more often, the superior of the temple where the funeral service is to be held, is communicated with immediately and desired to give the name, which he fixes upon according to the deceased man’s social position, calling, and services to the temple. In front of the tablet are ranged in a line a vase with a branch of the Chinese anise or oldenlandia, a cup of water, and a lamp lighted with rape-oil; all these utensils are made of unglazed earthenware. On the nearest edge is set an earthen censer in which incense-sticks are kept constantly burning, with a box of the sticks beside it. A sword or a knife is placed on or near the corpse to avert the malign influences of evil spirits.