A brief look at shinto funerals.
Rites of life: funerals
Last updated 2009-09-16
Shinto funerals
Death is seen as impure and conflicting with the essential purity of Shinto shrines. For the same reason, cemeteries are not built near Shinto shrines.
The result of this is that most Japanese have Buddhist or secular funerals, and cremation is common. Shinto funerals, when they occur, are called Sosai, and are largely developed from Buddhist funeral rites.
The funerals are usually conducted by lay people not priests (because the contact with death would be too polluting for priests) and do not take place in shrines.
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