Boat burial - Shuso (English spelling)

Japanese: 舟葬 - しゅうそう（英語表記）boat burial

A custom in which the body is placed in a small boat and sent down a river or into the sea, or buried in a boat-shaped coffin. The former is a type of burial at sea, and is typically seen in Polynesia, but is also found in parts of Micronesia and Melanesia. Boat-shaped coffins are also found in Indonesia, and all of these are linked to the idea of an afterlife at sea or under the sea. In Japan, coffins are generally called fune and coffins placed in coffins called ofuneiri, which are seen as remnants of boat burials, but this probably originates from the custom of transporting the body by boat to islands or to burial sites on coasts where land access is not possible. It is said that in the uninhabited island of Ezatohanare in Uken Bay on Amami Oshima, the dead were once secretly transported by boat at night to be buried, and such examples are widespread in the southern islands.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

死体を小舟に乗せ川や海に流し，あるいは舟形の棺に入れて埋葬するなどの習俗。前者は水葬の一種であり，代表的な例はポリネシアにみられるが，ミクロネシアやメラネシアの一部にも分布している。台上葬においても棺を舟形にする例がインドネシアにみられ，これらはいずれも海上他界ないし海底他界の観念と結びついている。日本では棺を一般にフネ，入棺をオフネイリといい，舟葬の名残りともみられるが，これは舟で島嶼，あるいは陸行できない海岸の葬地に運んだ習俗に由来するものであろう。奄美大島宇検湾の伊里 (えざと) 離れという無人島には，かつて夜間ひそかに死者を舟で運び葬ったといわれているが，こうした例は南島に広範に分布している。

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