"Do I need to make an ihai?"... To get straight to the point, an ihai is not absolutely necessary. However, if you plan to pray at home and pray over the ihai, it may be a good idea to have one. Even if you choose a permanent memorial service for your grave, whether or not to have one is a separate issue. In fact, it seems that many people who choose permanent memorial service do not make an ihai.
The ihai is usually placed in the Buddhist altar after the funeral. Of course, having an ihai is convenient if you plan to pray to the principal image of the deceased with the ihai in front of you every day. On the other hand, if you are not used to changing the water in the altar every day, making offerings, arranging flowers, and lighting candles and incense with prayer twice a day, morning and evening (or at least once in the morning), it can become a burden.
In Buddhism, the ihai is considered a place where the soul of the deceased resides, and is sometimes thought of as a kind of home to which the soul returns. However, even within Buddhism, different sects have different views on memorial tablets. The Jodo Shinshu sect, which boasts the largest number of followers in Japan, does not create memorial tablets; instead, it records the posthumous Buddhist name in a death register. The Hosso sect, also a branch of Buddhism, does not perform any funeral-related rituals. The absence of a memorial tablet does not necessarily mean that one does not care about the deceased. Those who are not concerned with formalities or customs may find one unnecessary.
As such, memorial tablets are not necessarily required for memorial services. Memorial tablets are a unique concept among Buddhist sects, and those who are non-religious do not particularly need one. Non-religious funerals are becoming increasingly common. These are conducted in a style that dispenses with religious customs in order to fulfill the wishes of the deceased and the wishes of the surviving family. Recitation of sutras by religious priests and incense burning are also not performed. Also known as a "free funeral," this mourning method is focused on the bereaved family's desire to remember the deceased.
In recent years, the number of households that do not have a Buddhist altar at home has been increasing. Along with perpetual memorial services, the practice of "closing the Buddhist altar" has also become popular. Conversely, this raises the question of what to do with the memorial tablet. If you store your memorial tablet at a temple, the cost will vary depending on the temple and the number of years you store it. As a guideline, the going rate is around 30,000 yen for three years of storage. If you choose to have it cremated, you will be required to give a monetary offering. The going rate ranges widely, from around 10,000 yen to 50,000 yen, and there is no set amount.
★ At SANKOTSUYAMA, we offer a memorial tablet storage service. This is a service where we handle the day-to-day management on your behalf. It can be difficult to come to a final decision on how to handle your memorial tablet. Even if you don't have a Buddhist altar at home, you can visit your loved one whenever you want. You can visit whenever you want. We have created such an environment. |
