What the Six Coins Mean — the Toll for the Sanzu River and the Sanada Crest

The six coins are known as the toll for the river of the dead. The phrase turns up in period drama and at funerals — but why six, and what actually happens today, are less widely known.

This article traces the meaning of the six coins through the lore of the Sanzu River and the six realms, and on to the Sanada clan crest.

What the six coins mean

Rokumonsen are the six coins placed with the dead as the toll for crossing the Sanzu River. They are also called meisen, spirit money.

The last travelling money you can carry on the road to the next world. Anyone without the toll cannot cross, and is stripped of their robes on the bank by Datsueba — the two traditions are always told together. Whoever is setting out, at least let them carry their fare: the custom holds a very plain wish.

Why six — the six realms

The best-known account pairs the number with the six realms: hell, hungry ghosts, beasts, asura, humans and heaven. One coin for each of the six worlds of rebirth, so that whichever you land in, you are not stranded.

This is one leading explanation rather than a settled origin. Still, there is a plain logic to it: if there are six possible destinations, provide for six. It was one of the few preparations the living could still make while the verdict was pending.

The burial custom, and its form today

Real coins were once placed in the coffin. Because metal interferes with cremation, a printed paper version is now usual; some regions use wooden ones.

Practice also varies by school. Jodo Shinshu, for instance, teaches immediate birth in the Pure Land and does not take the river crossing as a premise, so the coins are customarily not used. Follow local and denominational custom.

The Sanada crest — the mark of those ready to die

Many people know the six coins first as the crest of the Sanada clan. Carried by Sanada Yukimura (Nobushige) and his house, the emblem is said to declare a readiness to cross the river of the dead at any moment — that is, a refusal to fear death.

To carry the toll at all times is to be willing to die at any time. Taking an implement of funeral rites and flying it as a battle standard is one of the more striking gestures in Japanese warrior culture.

The shape of "letting them carry something" — a modern view

Looked at today, the custom turns out to have been less for the dead than for those seeing them off. There is nothing you can do for them, and still you want them to carry something. The six coins gave that feeling somewhere to go.

The same holds for relationships that have ended. Someone you have decided never to see again; time that will not come back. Even knowing there is nothing to be done, you still want your own feeling settled.

To send it off, first write it and close the book

Just as the six coins were an implement for sending someone off, an unsettled feeling needs a procedure for sending off too. Giving it a form before you see it off works far better than trying to force yourself to forget.

Yurusen is a private app for filing that "unforgivable" into a ledger that does not show your entries to other users. You do not need to name anyone. Write what was done and how it felt, and close the book — the way you would hand over a fare and see someone off. It is a private catharsis, never a way to harm a real person.

For more folklore of the next world, see the meaning of the Sanzu River, Datsueba and Sai-no-kawara.