The ihai and kwan, followed by the eldest son and the family, servants, friends, and acquaintances, are borne in a procession, with flags, lanterns, etc., to one of the neighboring temples, whence, after certain ceremonies, in which the priests take a leading part, they are carried, by the relatives only, to the grave, where a priest, while waiting their arrival, repeats certain hymns. The moment they are come, the tub containing the body is taken out of the kwan and deposited in the grave, which is then filled with earth and covered with a flat stone, which again is covered with earth, and over the whole is placed the kwan and one of the ihai, which is removed at the end of seven weeks, to make room for the _hiseki_,[79] or gravestone. If the deceased had preferred to be burnt, the kwan is taken to the summit of one of two neighboring mountains, on the top of each of which is a sort of furnace, prepared for this purpose, enclosed in a small hut. The coffin is then taken from the kwan, and, being placed in the furnace, a great fire is kindled. The eldest son is provided with an earthen urn, in which first the bones and then the ashes are put, after which the mouth of the urn is sealed up. While the body is burning, a priest recites hymns. The urn is then carried to the grave, and deposited in it, and, the grave being filled up, the kwan is placed over it. The eldest son and his brothers are dressed in white, in garments of undyed hempen stuff, as are the bearers, and all females attending the funeral, whether relatives or not; the others wear their usual dresses. The females are carried in norimono, behind the male part of the procession, which proceeds on foot, the nearest relatives coming first. The eldest daughter takes precedence of the wife. The eldest son and heir, whether by blood or adoption, who is the chief mourner, wears also a broad-brimmed hat, of rushes, which hang about his shoulders, and in this attire does not recognize nor salute anybody. It is a remarkable circumstance that relatives in the ascending line and seniors never attend the funerals of their junior kindred, nor go into mourning for them. Thus, if the second son should die, neither father, mother, uncle, aunt, elder brother, nor elder sister would attend the funeral. The laboring classes are not required to go into mourning; yet some of them do for two, three, or four days. With them the burial takes place after twenty-four hours. With the upper class the mourning is fixed at fifty days. It used to be twice that time, but is said to have been cut down by Iyeyasu (founder of the reigning dynasty), that the business of the public functionaries might suffer the less interruption. Persons in mourning stay at home, abstain from animal food of any description, and from sake, and neither cut their nails nor shave their heads.