Sending Off the Spirits of the Dead (in our own way)

After my father passed away, I noticed that funeral rites in contemporary Japan have become highly formalised (one might even say skeletonised). What does it mean for those of us living in the present to send off our deceased loved ones? I decided to think why do we want to send them off, and how can we take to do so in a way that makes sense to us when we touch or send off a being who is no longer with us.
This project began with an exploration of how I could send off my cats, with whom I had lived since childhood and who had gone before me (funeral rites for cats are still ambiguous in Japan, and in this sense are less formalised than those for humans), with my family or with people who had nothing to do with them.
The performance took place in July 2023 on the Tosabori River in the Nakanoshima area of Osaka.

1) making lanterns and taking them to sea with family

2) performance at the river (Nekodama-Nagashi)

3) burning the lanterns

lanterns

special thanks: