How to Read “Two ryō for living, five ryō for dying”
Iki ni ryō ni shini go ryō
Meaning of “Two ryō for living, five ryō for dying”
This proverb means that while you can live simply and keep costs low during your lifetime, the expenses after death for funerals and memorial services end up being surprisingly high.
People can save as much as they want while alive. But once they die, many expenses pile up. These include funeral preparations, offerings to Buddhist priests, and purchasing gravestones.
Family members want to honor the deceased properly. So they often spend more money than the person spent on daily living expenses while alive.
This saying criticizes how expensive funeral costs are. But it also teaches a lesson. Maybe we should spend more money enjoying life instead of saving it all for an expensive funeral after we die.
It reflects ordinary people’s honest feelings. If you’re going to spend a fortune on a funeral anyway, wouldn’t it be better to use that money for yourself while you’re still alive?
Origin and Etymology
The exact first written record of this proverb is unclear. However, it likely came from the daily lives of common people during the Edo period.
The specific amounts “two ryō” and “five ryō” show that money economy had spread to ordinary citizens by that time.
During the Edo period, one ryō was worth about 100,000 yen in today’s money. Two ryō would be about 200,000 yen, and five ryō about 500,000 yen.
People could manage daily living expenses with frugal spending of about two ryō. But funeral services, memorial ceremonies, and gravestones after death cost as much as five ryō.
This reflected the real experience of common people at that time.
Funerals in the Edo period emphasized appearances even more than today. Even poor families tried to hold respectable funerals because they cared about what others thought.
People who lived simply during their lives still had families who felt pressure. They had to hold proper funerals to save face with neighbors and relatives.
This proverb expressed social values of that time. It used specific amounts to show how heavy the cost of death rituals was. This made it something common people could share and understand.
Interesting Facts
Funeral costs in the Edo period varied greatly by social class and region. But among common people, there was even a term “funeral poverty.”
This shows how funeral expenses were a major problem that squeezed household budgets.
In Edo, cremation was common. But small expenses added up. These included coffins, wooden memorial tablets, and payments to Buddhist monks.
Even today, average funeral costs exceed one million yen. Compared to monthly living expenses, the feeling of “five ryō for dying” hasn’t changed.
Across different eras, people face the same economic reality.
Usage Examples
- My grandfather lived a simple life, but when I saw the funeral costs, I truly understood “Two ryō for living, five ryō for dying”
- They say “Two ryō for living, five ryō for dying,” and I regret not spending more on myself while I was alive
Universal Wisdom
Behind this proverb lies a fundamental human contradiction. While alive, people value saving money and practice frugality.
Yet after death, they spare no expense. This contradiction actually reflects deep human psychology.
Living people can judge “this is enough” for themselves. But the dead cannot speak. So families try to honor them more generously than during life, driven by regret thinking “I should have done more.”
Funerals aren’t just for the deceased. They also show the family’s social standing. Human nature caring about appearances and reputation drives funeral costs higher.
Thinking deeper, this proverb teaches the importance of “living in the present” through irony. Even if people spend a fortune on you after death, you cannot enjoy it.
The message asks: shouldn’t we spend our money and time on this present moment while we’re alive?
Everyone must face death eventually. Given this unavoidable fact, how should we live? This proverb conveys our ancestors’ honest life philosophy.
We should choose a fulfilling life over empty displays after death.
When AI Hears This
The 2.5 times price difference shown in this proverb remarkably matches the “loss aversion coefficient of 2.0 to 2.5 times” discovered by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman’s Prospect Theory.
This means Japanese people in the Edo period accurately quantified a cognitive trait as market prices. They understood that human brains feel losses about 2.5 times heavier than gains.
This happened over 200 years before scientific research proved it.
What’s interesting is that this price difference cannot be explained by simple supply and demand. Manufacturing costs for coffins shouldn’t differ much from everyday items.
So why did they cost 2.5 times more? The answer is that “fear of loss through death” drove up willingness to pay.
Families tend to pay beyond rational price judgments. They want to avoid psychological losses like regret and guilt toward the deceased. This is exactly the same mechanism that makes modern funeral costs expensive.
Even more noteworthy is that this price ratio remained stable across society. Individual psychological biases became aggregated as market prices and maintained over long periods.
This means cognitive distortions in human brains are built into economic systems. The loss aversion bias carved into our brains is a universal force that moves markets across time.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches us the importance of reconsidering life’s priorities. Shouldn’t we value enriching our present lives over having a grand funeral after death?
In modern society, we spend money on appearances and formalities in many situations. But what truly matters isn’t formal grandeur. It’s richness of heart while we’re alive.
Time with family, realizing your dreams, expressing gratitude to loved ones. These are things you can only do while living.
This proverb also suggests the importance of end-of-life planning and organizing affairs while alive. If you clearly state your wishes about death beforehand, your family won’t need to overspend.
Telling them “keep it simple” or “use that money for the living family instead” is also an expression of love.
Your life exists right now, in this moment. Living without regrets may not be about empty displays after death.
It may be about treasuring each day as it comes.
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