Memento Mori Through Collection: Collecting Mementos for My Coffin While I'm Still Alive (Remember You Must Die)

Do you allever think about 'memento mori' (remembering death) in your daily lives?

Whenever I have a hard time or feel like being lazy, I make it a point to think, 'Well, everyone will be dead in a hundred years anyway.'

By doing that, my heart actually feels lighter, and I can keep trying my best.

This time, I would like to introduce to you some special items I have collected through my life's work of 'collecting one pink item on my travels to put in my coffin when I die.'

When I die, put these in my coffin and say goodbye to me.

Why limit it to 'pink' items from 'travel destinations'?

I'm sure you're all a bit curious, so I'll add this...

1. Because it becomes a fun challenge to always find one pink item while traveling

2. Because pink symbolizes life—the color of the womb, the color of a baby's palm, the color of flower buds—and is fitting for decorating death

3. Because it would be funny if a funeral home staff member handed over some mysterious pink object, saying, 'This is something the deceased cherished in life, please put it in the coffin'

Things you see when you try to find them

Regarding point ①, 'because it becomes a fun challenge to always find one pink item while traveling,' it is certainly fun, but when you try to look for something, you start to see things you wouldn't normally notice.

Souvenir shops that you can't figure out how they stay in business, mysterious local cafes, wildflowers on the roadside... and so on.

I think that by trying to find pink items, I am naturally using an antenna that I don't usually use.

Memories and colors that color death

Regarding (2), 'Pink symbolizes life—the color of the womb, the color of a baby's palms, the color of flower buds—and is fitting for decorating death,'memories and images are tied to colors, aren't they? Yes, color is also a trigger for memory.



This deep pink is alighter from a vintage clothing store in Koenji,this pale, translucent pink is acherry blossom shell I picked up on the beach in Enoshima... and so on, memories from the past come vividly to mind.

And wouldn't it be wonderful if things that serve as keys to the deceased's memories were in the coffin?

Let's comfort those who are crying with the innocence and cheerfulness of pink

Regarding (3), 'Because it would be funny if the funeral home staff were handed some strange pink object.'

I wonder, will everyone cry when I die?

Surelythere are people who will cry for me, but when I picture their faces, my heart aches.

Those who are feeling sad will surely touch the strange pink knick-knacks I left behind,'Ah, they were the kind of person who would do such strange things...' they'll remember, and they'll probably laugh a little and cry again.

The hopelessly innocent and cheerfulpink things I've collected should brighten the hearts of those left behind just a little.

My collection of pink thingswill function not only as a look back at my beloved life, but also as grief care for my beloved peopleon it.

Oh no, this is such a good story I'm about to cry...

I will show you various pink things

So, although I've already shown you a few,I'd like to show you all more of the trajectory of my life.

Isn't this the best...?

I happened to find this while walking through a shop in Mitaka, Tokyo, calledRuma Baguzand picked it up. It's a fair trade specialty shop, apparently.

The fact that it says 'A work from a 60-year-old' instead of an author's name or brand name makes me feel a sense of pride in the era they lived through.

It is a wonderful piece where the gap between that ruggedness and the cute pink, scattered small flowers, and heart patterns is magnificent.

And surely,whoever puts this in my coffin will think, 'Wait, who is this 60-year-old...?'

Next.It's a Slowpoke. My husband bought it for me on his way back from a business trip.

He said,'It looked just like you.'That's what he said.

A plushie that looks like the deceased might, out of deep affection,not be put in the coffin, but instead spend its time beside the surviving family.

I think that's also fine as a form of grief care.

■ Click here for a comic about my husband

Let's keep going.

Actually, they were selling these as a 'three for a certain price' deal, and while I was only really after these two mahjong hair clips,I remembered, 'Oh right, I have to buy something pink,' and bought this too.

It was a moment where I realized that collecting pink things had become a natural part of my life's work.

I've been introducing various things I've bought, butsometimes I also pick up natural pink items while traveling.

Yes, it's a cherry blossom shell!
Even though it's such a delicate shell,you can actually pick them up on the beach just like in Animal Crossing.

When you think about it, shells are just the discarded husks of living creatures.
As items to place in a coffin, they resonate as physical objects.

There's still more, but that's all for today.
Don't you all feel like starting your own 'collection of things to put in my coffin' now?

As for me, collecting pink things forever is fine, but I think I'll make up some mysterious family rules, like collecting blue things once I hit my 40s, or if I have a child, making them collect purple things while we travel.

For example! If I have a child and grandchildren, wouldn't it be wonderful if, at my funeral, my child could hold the service while reflecting on the things they collected from their own childhood, and then tell those stories to my grandchildren?

Memento mori, to think of death.
I believe that is actually thinking about 'now' and the 'life' that is to come.

Trying to see something uniquely your own through collection

This is a comment from Kokugakuin University, who organized '#MyCollection'.

When I tell people around me, 'I'm collecting pink things on my travels to eventually put in my coffin (lol)', it always feels like I've just told a joke that completely bombed, but reading this text made me very happy.

I think, perhaps, through this act, I am practicing my own form of thanatology. When I realized that, I felt like I wanted to think about this even more.

As I think about and feel the act of collecting things—something I used to do without much thought—as a form of study, something uniquely my own emerges, and it is reborn into the work I do now, drawing pictures and weaving words, becoming not just pink things, but the small traces of my life.

It's so rich. Ah, I could die today and be fine.

Thank you.
To all creativity,
to the people I love,
and to whoever organized this project.

I lived to the fullest today, too.

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