The service was held in Rika's mums house and was attended by about 40 relatives and neighbors, who all managed to fit in the main room sitting on cushions (the sliding doors of the 2 main rooms were removed to make one large room, demonstrating the practicality of the traditional Japanese house.)
The service was led by a Buddhist priest from the local temple, known as 'go-zen-sama' (literally 'honorable at the front'). It consisted mainly of chanting sutras, starting with the Heart Sutra, then the Shushougi. During the chanting the priest would occasionally stop and let us carry on so you had to keep up!
The priest also gave a small sermon, pointing out that one of the teaching of buddhism is that nothing stays the same forever, and life goes on, for better and worse. And on the bright side there is a new baby in the family, and the gaijin seems well behaved. (Go-zen-sama also kind enough to bring some information for me on Soto zen temples in Tokyo that teach in English, which was very thoughtful of him).
After the service everyone visited the the family grave to pay their respects. And then most people went on by bus to a local restaurant for a family meal together.
The meal itself was quite lavish with nice sushi, fish, tempura, a little stew, shellfish, soup, desert... The lady sitting opposite is Mrs Yamada, the mother of Masahiko (my brother-in-law in-law).
It was a good opportunity to take Hanna round and introduce her to the various relatives. This is Suzuki-san, Rika's dad's younger brother. (Hes name is Suzuki not S. because he took his wife's surname).
This is Rika's mum's sisters Yata-san and Obigane-san, and Miamoto-san, Rika's mums older brothers wife.
As you can see my halo was particularly strong that day. This is Miamoto-san, the youngest of Rika's mother's 9 brothers and sisters.
After the meal, we returned to Rika's mum's house, for some more chat and playing with the baby. This is Hanaoka, Rika's mum's older sister. I think Hanna looks a bit like Hanoka-san.
This is Mrs Suzuki and Hanaoka-san.
This is Mr & Mrs Sagai (Rika's fathers younger sister).
Hanna was in a good mood throughout (except when we neglected to change her). I think she brought some happiness to what was otherwise a fairly sad day for everyone.
