葬 means “funeral, bury”

そう · sou

Also: interment, shelve

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ほうむる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ソウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

Death (死) with grass (艹) above and a pair of hands (廾) below: the Shuowen reads it as a body laid out among grasses. 葬る is to bury, 葬式 is a funeral, and 火葬, cremation, is how nearly every funeral in Japan ends.

Used in 葬式 (soushiki, funeral), 葬儀 (sougi, funeral service), and 火葬 (kasou, cremation)

More from Graves & Mourning

• 喪 mourning
• 墓 grave
• 悼 grieve
• 墳 burial mound
• 弔 mourn
• 忌 shun
• 逝 pass away
• 殉 die for a cause
• 棺 coffin
• 訃 news of a death
• 骸 bones
• 遺 leave behind

Learn 葬 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.