Formal Obit and Parting Service Held for IZUMI Soko Masakazu

Formal Obit and Parting Service Held for
IZUMI Soko Masakazu

The formal obit and parting service for IZUMI Soko Masakazu (b. June 25, 1958), who passed away in the early morning of February 2, 2003, took place on February 12, 2003, at the main hall of Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto. The officiating priest was Daitokuji Chief Abbot FUKUTOMI Settei. Approximately 6,000 mourners, including relatives, government and business figures, members of the cultural and art community, Urasenke followers, and private citizens came and paid their last respects.
   The service commenced at 1:00 P.M. To begin, Former Grand Master SEN Genshitsu and Grand Master SEN Soshitsu XVI (the deceased's father and older brother, respectively) in turn made ceremonial tea offerings and placed them before his portrait photograph. TSUKAMOTO Yoshikata (President, Wacoal Co.), who is a Konnichian patron and member of the Tankokai board of directors, and who knew IZUMI Masakazu for thirty years, headed the organizing committee for the service, and delivered an obituary oration. A message from Kyoto Governor YAMADA Keiji was read by the governor's wife; Kyoto Mayor MASUMOTO Yorikane delivered a message; and, serving as spokesman for the deceased's personal friends, OHKURA Haruhiko (President, Gekkeikan Sake Co., Ltd.) delivered a mourning message. Next, IZUMI Masakazu's widow, IZUMI Hiromi, accepted certificates of appreciation from Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto City to her husband, and laid them on the offering table. Condolence telegrams sent from Prime Minister KOIZUMI Jun'ichiro, Chief Cabinet Secretary FUKUDA Yasuo, NHK President EBISAWA Katsuji, Ambassador Eero SALOVAARA of the Embassy of Finland in Japan, and President HOU Zixin of Nankai University in China, were read.
   The officiating priest intoned a sutra and cried out "Kwatz!" as a word to guide the soul of the departed, and then all the attending priests together chanted the Kannon Sutra.
   Following this symbolic moment of parting, the chief mourner, IZUMI Hiromi, addressed the attendees and conveyed her and her late husband's thanks to them. The seated guests then went up to the offering table and offered incense, after which the long rows of mourners who stood outside filed in and each laid a stalk of narcissus on the offering table. In closing the service, Grand Master SEN Soshitsu XVI conveyed his appreciation to the attendees, saying that he would do his utmost to also fulfill the role his brother had played as a shining light in the house and the Urasenke family.
   IZUMI Soko Masakazu has received the posthumous Buddhist names and title Tansensai Gekkan Soko Koji.


	The family members. From the right in the front row: IZUMI Hiromi, IZUMI Koichiro, IZUMI Reijiro, SEN Genshitsu, SEN Soshitsu XVI, SEN Masako.


Kyoto City certificate of appreciation to IZUMI Masakazu is handed by Mayor MASUMOTO Yorikane to IZUMI Hiromi.