田舎町の葬式

午後一で表に出て自転車をこぎ始めると、隣家から長老たちが出てくる。珍しい組み合わせだったのでちょっとばかり驚く。私の顔を見るなり、声をひそめてご主人が亡くなったと言う。あまり具合がよくないと聞いてはいたが、実際になると、ちょっとしたショックである。それはそれとして同じ班なので葬式の段取りが気になる。

かつては通夜、本葬から後片付けまで二日は必ず体を開けておかねばならないし、どうかすると、お知らせ配りなど準備にも一日かかるようなこともあった。丸三日である。同じ班であれば、皆が納得できる理由がない限り抜けることはできない。運命共同体といってもよいほどの強制力があった。遺族や自分たちの食事を準備する者、受付、車の整理などそれぞれ役割分担する。

葬式ではひどく疲れる仕事がある訳ではないが、何故か疲労困憊する。遺族の事を思うと弾まない。夏ならまだしも、冬場ともなれば葬式風邪を引くのが定番になるほどだ。

葬儀の簡略化が叫ばれ、更に葬儀屋があちこちに開業するなどして近代化するようになる。ここ二十年ほどだろうか。かつて八幡ではどこでも「葬式頼母子」が組まれ、これが葬式の主要な仕事をこなすことが多かった。近頃では同じ班の仕事も減り、頼まれれば受付けをやるぐらいになっている。ここ十年ぐらいからか家族葬が多くなって、葬式の規模が全体として小さくなっているように感じる。近頃では殆んど受付や食事なども凡て葬儀屋へお任せになっている。

今回は遺族から受付をしてほしいと言う要望があったらしい。そこで班長が骨折って通夜と本葬の二日にわたり、自宅と斎場へ割り振りをした結果、私は斎場の受付をやることになった。ここ何年も葬儀に関わることがなかったので多少不安があるものの、それまでの経験がかなりあるので無事務められるのではないか。

葬儀となれば香典のことに触れなければならない。近頃では派手なことをしなくなってきたものの、包む金額には気を遣う。この辺りでは手伝に人手を出す家は通常の半額ぐらいが相場で、この町内では今でも恒例として伝わっているところもある。私一人の一存で決められないので、班内の人と相談するつもりである。

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Country town funeral

When I went outside at 1pm and started pedaling my bike, some elders from the neighboring house came out. It was a rare combination, so I was a little surprised. As soon as they saw me, they told me in a hushed voice that the neighbor’s husband had passed away. I had heard that he had not been feeling well, but it was still a bit of a shock to hear it in person. That aside, since we were in the same group, I was curious about the funeral arrangements.

In the past, we had to leave our schedule open for at least two days from the wake and funeral to cleaning up, and sometimes it took a whole day to prepare things like handing out notices. It was three whole days. If you were in the same group, you couldn’t leave unless you had a reason that everyone could agree on. There was such a strong sense of coercion that we could say we were in a community of shared destiny. Each person had his or her own role to play, such as preparing meals for the bereaved family and themselves, reception, and organizing the cars.

There is nothing particularly tiring about funeral work itself, but for some reason I still feel exhausted. When I think about the bereaved families, I can’t help but feel depressed. It’s not so bad in the summer, but in the winter, it’s common to catch a cold at a funeral.

Calls for the simplification of funerals have been heard, and funeral homes have opened up all over the place, modernizing the area. Over the past 20 years or so.

 In the past, “Tanomoshi funeral association” were formed everywhere in Hachiman, and these associations often handled the main tasks of funerals. Recently, the number of tasks for these has decreased, and they only do reception work when asked. Over the past 10 years or so, there has been an increase in family funerals, and it seems that the scale of funerals has been getting smaller overall. Nowadays, most reception and food duties are left to the funeral homes.

This time, there was a request from the bereaved family to handle only the reception ,no accounting required. The group leader worked hard to assign tasks to members, which were reception at his home and the funeral hall over the two days, and I ended up handling the job at the hall. I haven’t been involved in funerals for years, so I’m a little nervous, but I have a lot of experience, so I think I’ll be able to handle it without any problems. When it comes to funerals, we have to talk about the issue of condolence money. Although people don’t do extravagant things anymore, I still think about the amount I give. Around here, it is common for families to give about half the usual amount if they volunteer to help out, and in some places in this , it is still a tradition. I can’t decide on my own, so I plan to consult with the people in my group.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　HIgejiisan