Shinmon Aoki, Coffinman

Summary by Meg Gibbs

We start the story of Coffinman by following the career of Shinmon Aoki, writer and coffinman. We follow Aoki's entrance into the work of preparing bodies for funeral and cremation. He tells us briefly of his life history which left him in dire enough straights to take on the socially taboo job of working with dead bodies. He talks of his experience as a coffinman, telling of important moments in his career, moments where he begun to accept the work and see something deeper within working with the dead. He also talks of others reactions to him as one who works with the dead, including his wife's revulsion and complete rejection by his family. Aoki offers a glimpse of Japanese society and the strong taboos about death and dying therein.

After discussing his history and experiences as a coffinman, Aoki uses these experiences to pull back and look at the spiritual aspects of living and of dying. Aoki tells of both his own acceptance of this difficult work, but also the acceptance that he slowly finds from those around him. Aoki turns the work of dealing with death and dying into a way to better see the light of the world in which we live. He begins to draw on the work and philosophy of others. He brings Buddhist thought into play and the novel becomes a work of faith and an expression of love. Aoki tells of the beauty of living and the beauty of dying and the light seen in both.