Should I Send Flowers to a Japanese Funeral?

White signifies death in Japanese culture, making white flowers most appropriate.

Sending Flowers

Japanese funerals involve flowers. According to Billy Hammond, a representative from the mortuary usually places flowers and fruits on top of the altar at the funeral site. During the final viewing, visitors typically place flowers in the casket before it is sealed, and Cheryl Prince states that visitors also place flowers on the grave after the funeral.

Not Sending Flowers

Mourners rarely send flowers to a Japanese funeral. Mourners customarily send monetary gifts and sympathy cards more often than flowers, and some mourners pay for hanawa, a type of funeral wreath, which the mortuary representative displays around the casket during the funeral.

Bottom Line

Most Japanese mourners do not send flowers to a funeral, but flowers play a role in Japanese funerals and would not be entirely out of place. If sending flowers, keep in line with cultural ideas by sending white flowers, since white signifies death in the Japanese culture. Consider alternative means of expressing sympathy first, though.

References

• Indiana University: Grief, Mourning, and Funeral Traditions
• TanuTech: Japanese Buddhist Funeral Customs
• Chinatown Connection: Japanese Funeral Customs
• Japan Guide: Should Flowers Be Sent to a Funeral?
• Crystal Tokyo Blog: Death in Japan; Japanese Funeral Customs and Practices