Beautiful coffins made of igusa come in seven types with different colors and patterns. (In Okawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture)
KANAGAWA, Oct. 23 – A design company in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, has created beautiful coffins using igusa rush grass grown in Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan. It’s an entirely new option that the company, doode, started to offer to match the diversifying funeral styles.
The coffins featuring domestic materials are called “Midori no Okan,” which means a green coffin in Japanese. They are made of igusa rush grass grown in Fukuoka and Kumamoto Prefectures using traditional handicraft skills of “hanagoza” artisans in the Chikugo region in the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture. (Hanagoza is a pretty traditional mattress made of igusa.) Toshin from Okawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture, weaves hanagoza, and Kinoshita Kogei from the same city makes coffins using the colorfully-patterned woven mattresses.
Sachiko Kitagawa, president of doode, drafted the idea in 2019, and the company will start selling them in autumn this year. They’ll be made to order with prices starting from 600,000 yen per unit.
“It has a comforting aroma like new tatami mattresses,” said Kitagawa. “We make each coffin full-heartedly. I hope it can serve many people in the very precious last hours of their lives.”