Emperor Emeritus Hopes Simple Funeral

The Emperor Emeritus, Akihito, reportedly hopes that his funeral will be taken place in a minimum way, considering its impact on the people. Acknowledging that the funeral of the Emperor of Showa, Hirohito, was held very long and affected ordinary life of the Japanese people, Akihito has been wishing simple funeral for the happiness of the people. Since the Emperor Emeritus constitutionally does not have power to government, the government of Japan will consider how the funeral should be held while he is living. 

The funeral of Hirohito, who died in 1989, was magnificent. The morning ceremonies lasted over two months and ten thousand people visited the funeral. The government constructed a building for the funeral in Shinjuku National Garden and traffics are restricted around the garden. A huge mausoleum was built in the imperial house’s graveyard located in the suburb of Tokyo. The government spent about 10 billion yen for the funeral and the interment.

 

Akihito knows well about his father’s funeral. As the Emperor does not have political power, the Imperial Household Agency publicized Akihito’s “feelings” on future funeral of himself in 2013, wishing his funeral to be simpler than his father’s. Akihito realized that the imperial house did not historically hope to impose excessive burden for their funeral and interment on the people.

 

Supposing unaffordability of enough land for his mausoleum, Akihito hoped his one to be as small as possible. To save the space for it, he rather wished cremation than burial which has been a tradition of deceased emperor. Akihito had always been hoping to be closer to Japanese citizens as the emperor in a peacetime. He also wished his funeral to be as closer to the people as it can be.

 

Akihito also did not want to occupy public space for his funeral so long. Building new facility for his funeral can require cutting certain number of trees, which he did not hope. Funeral with large scale may cause uneasiness for the participants and foreign guests with rain, wind or even tornado. Akihito worries about his families to be in a hard situation caused by his funeral.

 

The Imperial Household Agency thus considers that Akihito’s funeral will be held in an existing building in the Imperial Palace, without building a new facility. Guests would be reduced to less than 2,500 people. While the mourning for Hirohito lasted for over a year, refraining the people from having a major event in Japan, mourning for Akihito will be shorter and simpler.

 

Simple funeral can distant the imperial house from being taken advantage of by politics. It is possible for conservative politicians to show their loyalty to the emperor by extravagance for the funeral. But after the Constitution of Japan was enforced in 1947, the emperor has been defined as the symbol of the state and unity of the people. A funeral closer to ordinary people than his predecessors may be appropriate for the emperor in contemporary Japan.

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