When it is time to meet your Maker, do you want to hang in there as long as possible, or do you just want to “pop off”? In Japan, there’s a temple devoted to “popping off,” which in Japanese is called pokkuri.
Thousands of elderly people in Japan each year visit Kichidenji Temple in Nara Prefecture where they pray for a pokkuri death — preferably on a quiet night in their sleep or by sudden heart attack — so they are not a burden on their families during their final days.
Kichidenji was established over a thousand years ago by a monk whose mother had passed away peacefully wearing clothes that he had prayed over. A tradition was born and ever since then elderly pilgrims across Japan have been coming to Kichidenji to pray for a discreet and quick passing.
Maybe pokkuri is a good concept to borrow from the Japanese: God, grant me a good life, a useful (and meaningful) life, and when it’s time, let me pokkuri in a dignified, discreet way. Amen.
One of my uncles, Uncle Ben, is almost 90. He’s in good health, more or less, except that he doesn’t really know what he did yesterday, he’s basically blind, he can’t hear too well, and well, you know, he’s getting ready to meet his Maker.
I hope Uncle Ben will have his own Pokkuri Moment and leave this Earth in a quick, quiet way — preferably in his sleep, dreaming pleasant dreams as he heads back to that from which we all came.
Funny thing about this word “pokkuri.” It also stands for a kind of wooden shoe, a geta, they say, and several websites sell pokkuri sandals worldwide. Google the term and you can find the geta sites. Of course, it is written with different kanji than this “pop off” term…
I think in Japan, the U.S., and seemingly most of the rest of the developed world we are carrying too far this idea that old age and infirmity are burndens that it is somehow wrong to “impose” on loved ones. Sure, it’s wise to save money when you’re healthy and productive for later years of failing health; but caring for and accepting care from loved ones is where the rubber hits the road for family as well as humanity in general.
Hi Papa,
Good point and I agree. We should not shirk our responsibilities to God and life.
But this Pokkuri thing is meant for people to pray, in a light hearted way, that when THEIR time comes, God will grant them a nice ”popping off” — “POKKURI” — in their sleep, rather than a long drawn out burdensome death in a nursing home or terminal hospital environemnt with a quality of life of almost zero.
But yes, not everyone will die that way, and in the end, we must all face life squarely. I was just being lighthearted about a very serious undertaking. Life 101.
God bless you, sir.
Danny
Kichidenji is located in Ikaruga-cho, not Nara City (although it is in Nara Prefecture). I used to live a couple minutes away from it. A lot of the visitors first visit Horyuji (about ten minutes away) then make their way to Kichidenji.
http://www.town.ikaruga.nara.jp/ikaho/e/guide/f5f
yes yes, Ikarauga is the place
http://www.town.ikaruga.nara.jp/ikaho/e/guide/guide.html
here!
Here are the MONEY QUOTES:
The visitors prayed with Kichidenji’s chief priest Shinetsu Yamanaka, chanting a phrase devoting faith to Amitabha and beating a wood block, which causes **popping sounds** (and thus the term POP OFF) believed to help their wishes come true.
MONEY QUOTE 2: The temple, established in western Japan by scholar monk Genshin in 987, is said to help the faithful “pop off” from this world because the holy man’s mother passed away peacefully after wearing clothes he had cast prayers on. Devotees believe if they put their UNDERWEAR (!!!) in front of the huge statue of Amitabha, an incarnation of the Buddha, and pray, they will be able to die in a way their loved ones secretly long for.
Thanks, Justin.
We corrected the article.
The pokkuri for sandals are written with kanji (and I suspect many Japanese might have trouble reading them), but the pokkuri for sudden death is not written with kanji at all but hiragana.
Final Days: Japanese Culture and Choice at the End of Life
Long’s book offers a very interesting take on Ikiru, even though it only mentions the film once, through a quotation from Richie’s book. The book begins to have relevance to the film with its definitions of “pokkuri” and “rosui,” which are the names of two types of death in Japanese. As Long explains, “the character for “death” is rarely used alone in reference to individual humans, but instead appears in combination with other characters.” Examples of this given by Long are “shinju,” which means “lovers’ suicide” and “senshi,” which means “death in war.” The word pokkuri, as described by Long, is, “a special folk category of sudden death that encompasses the best ways to live and die. The include not imposing a burden on others through an extended illness, not suffering, and not having to face death directly.” This “ideal death” is compared to “rosui,” which is another ‘good’ way to die and is “the gradual decline of old age.” Watanabe is not afforded the luxury of dying by rosui, so his only chance at having a good death is by dying in the manner of pokkuri. If we view Ikiru this way, we can attribute new significance and meaning to Watanabe’s actions at the end of his life. His alienation from his son, his leaving the car to cough up blood (during the “nightlife sequence’), and his lonely death in the park, all can be seen as attempts at dying a pokkuri death. Watanabe might not want to both his son and the writer with his illness and drying alone at the park would certainly guarantee no unnecessary burden on his son (before he dies). Also, by dying at the park, Watanabe could be trying to associate himself with the thing that gave meaning to his life and that he willed into existence, because, as I quoted before, the Japanese combine the “character for “death” […] with other characters.”
The only problem with the “pokkuri” understanding of Watanabe’s death is revealed later on by Long, “Dying without the presence of other (kodoku nashi, or “lonely death”) is considered a terrible fate.” This interpretation adds understanding to the “wake scene,” in which the various coworkers of Watanabe try to convince themselves that he did not know about his cancer. The coworkers do not want to believe that Watanabe would willingly experience such a terrible fate, so they try to show that he did not do it willingly. It is very hard to understand the film in terms of both “pokkuri” and “kodoku nashi,” so maybe the best information that can be gleaned from Long’s book is that “preparation for death may mean arranging for property distribution, laying the groundwork for role inheritance, or doing activities the person has always wanted to do.” This offers a completely different take on Watanabe’s actions than Richie, who saw him as initially searching for solace. Through this interpretation, Watanabe’s adventure with the writer could be seen simply as a way of preparing for his death, although the film itself does not seem to suggest this. While none of these terms may have direct application to Ikiru, they do offer an interesting point of view of the culture behind the film and potentially provide some insight into the film that no other book offers.
to Japan death japanese_culture pokkuri rosui suicide Ikiru by dhm …on 2005-11-29