Japanese funeral customs: two attendants wearing loin-cloths place the body of a dead man in a round wooden vessel while a third prepares to open a large box to receive the body. Watercolour, ca. 1880 (?).

Left above, behind a screen a man comforts a woman who is prostrate with grief; in front of the screen lies the bier on which the body will be carried to the temple; the circular cover of the tub containing the body lies behind the bier; left below, on a low table Buddhist religious objects are placed, including smouldering incense and a green leafy plant in a vase; centre foreground, a samurai sword lies on the floor; centre above, the screen is decorated with an image of three cranes in flight. The scene is illuminated by three ikarikei (flared Buddhist meditation candles), burning in tall candle-holders standing on the floor