Bev and I feel the recently released Japanese film “Departures” is a wonderful window into Japan’s Shinto/Buddhist-centered culture, especially in terms of the Japanese view of death. The film evolves around the experiences of an apprentice nokanshi (“encoffining master”), a professional who cleans and clothes a body before cremation or burial. The film vividly shows the nokanshi carefully and very respectfully dressing up the deceased, in full view of the survivors/relatives, with compassion and a meticulous, artful professional touch.
A nokanshi is not really a mortician or an undertaker, but perhaps a gatekeeper/facilitator from the world of the living to the next spiritual realm. After watching this thoroughly engrossing film, one can argue that the Japanese outlook on death makes a lot of sense. Seeing deceased family members made up like wax mannequins at funeral wakes, I feel the more natural and beautiful aesthetic created by the nokanshi makes for a wonderful final journey from this world.
- Randy & Bev Lynch
