Shinmon Aoki

Shinmon Aoki
Born(1937-04-11)11 April 1937
Nyūzen, Shimoniikawa District, Toyama, Toyama Prefecture, Japan
Died6 August 2022(2022-08-06) (aged 85)
OccupationWriter, poet
GenreFiction

Shinmon Aoki (Japanese: 青木新門, Hepburn: Aoki Shinmon, 11 April 1937 – 6 August 2022) was a Japanese writer and poet. He was best known for his memoirs Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician,[1] published in 1993. The book was based on his diaries during a period in which he worked as a mortician in the 1970s, a profession which is traditionally regarded as a taboo in Japan due to their perception of death. In 2008 his memoirs were adapted into a successful Academy Award-winning feature film, Departures, by filmmaker Yōjirō Takita.[2]

Aoki died on 6 August 2022, at the age of 85.[3]

  1. ^ Green, Ronald (4 December 2013). Buddhism Goes to the Movies: Introduction to Buddhist Thought and Practice. Routledge. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-135-01994-5.
  2. ^ Ebert, Roger (14 December 2010). Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2011. Andrews McMeel. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-7407-9769-9.
  3. ^ "青木新門さん死去　８５歳、作家「納棺夫日記」" [Shinmon Aoki passes away at the age of 85, the author of 'Nokanfu Nikki']. webun.jp (in Japanese). 7 August 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.