Funeral pictures

I have seen in many japanese movies they put up a picture of a deceased person on the funeral.

Is this really very common in Japan?

How long has this been a funeral act?

As pictures like that has not been around for too long, what was the funerals act before when there were no photographic pictures available?

- Yes it is common. That's the person you all gathered for. Any reason why you would NOT want a photo?

- As long as I remember at least (which goes close to 50 years lol).

- Maybe they used portraits before, but I would not know.

I don�ft know if it is true, but according to a Japanese forum referenced below, it was not a common practice until 1960�fs. It started with the state funeral of Tomomi Iwakura in 1883, where a painted portrait of the deceased was displayed. After that, people of stature started to adopt the practice and gradually it spread to common people in 1960�fs.

Common world wide isn't it today? A few cultures dont like it, but it seems the normal practice world wide.

It�fs definitely common in America, too.

Those who can read Japanese should Google ˆâ‰e‚Ì—ðŽj and it tells you all about the history of Japanese funeral photos of the deceased, including the fact that Wikipedia is (again) not always accurate.

According to the Google search, the custom seems to have become common ever since the first big war after photography became common, which was the Russo-Japanese War in the early 1900s.

But an undertaker's blog tells us that in the Meiji period (late 1800s), which was the time when the Japanese started having wars after 200 years of peace, it was already common for soldiers to have their photos taken while they are alive. Meanwhile, the blog also introduces a book that claims that the origin in Japan was ukiyoe paintings that were used for deceased kabuki actors in the Edo period.

By the way, I doubt that it wasn't common until the 1960s. As far as I know, placing/carrying photos upon funerals was the norm during World War II. But good point that photography used to be a luxury for many people regardless of the country.

My Japanese father in law recently passed away and we helped arrange the funeral. He explicitly said he didn't want a picture at his funeral. His surviving sister was angry that we didn't use one, but it was one of his wishes. I have heard they often Photoshop clothes onto the photo, and it does put me off a bit. One thing they also do over the course of the proceedings is play very dreary music in the background - we found one of my father in laws jazz tapes and got them to play that instead. Really helped the mood.

Photoshop onto the funeral photo? I've never seen it.

Photoshop onto the funeral photo? I've never seen it.
To .. (guest) ,
those thing are done regularly. Either to the background, clothing, facial or whatever to make it presentable during wake and funeral.

I agree with the above second guest. Rather back to the topic, not all Japanese people have fancy portraits taken at a photo studio like most Americans might. So when someone dies, the family has to dig out "better" photos from their album, and if it was taken with friends or in a T-shirt or with lots of messy furniture behind, the undertaker would have them neatly trimmed and refinished. My late grandmothers' have flowers added to hers.

Since it's not common to take studio portraits, a lot of funeral photos show a very younger figure of the deceased person. Meanwhile, a lot of practical people nowadays take "funeral photos" in advance. I had a couple of relatives who takes new ones each year so that they would be well-represented at their funeral and so that they won't have to cause much trouble for their family.