On September 22, 2024, a memorial service was held for about 450 letters that had arrived at Daishoji Temple in Kitasui, Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture, which has a "green postbox" that accepts letters addressed to the deceased. About 50 people, including those who had posted their letters, mourned the deceased.
In the temple grounds, there is an old-fashioned cylindrical postbox painted green, and since 2019, letters for the deceased have been collected. The letters are not opened, and are burned on the spring and autumn equinoxes.
On this day, as light rain fell, parishioners burned their letters one by one on the gomadan (fire altar) where a flame was rising. The head priest recited sutras, and the attendees quietly put their hands together.
A woman (43 years old) who mailed the letter to her husband who passed away in October last year came from Tomakomai City, Hokkaido with her eldest daughter, who was 8 years old. "I wrote down the feelings that I had been holding in without being able to talk to people. I hope that at least a little of my feelings will reach them," she said.
