Burial rite, the first and the most important stage of transition from the world of the living to the afterlife, has always been of great importance for the Japanese culture, which is characterized by the accent it places upon the ancestor worship. The influence of burial and memorial rites was so strong that even Christianity brought to the country by Western missionaries could not ignore it. While trying to neglect Japanese burial traditions, missionaries were not able to provide new converts with any significant alternative to the practices they had got accustomed to: in Western Christianity, denying different manifestations of ancestor cult, this sphere turned to be much less developed than in traditional Japanese culture. It resulted in the emersion of various problems, leading to numerous conflicts between Christian converts and their non-Christian milieu, as well as to the lack of understanding between Church leaders and ordinary believers, and compelled deviations from Christian traditions to original local ones. At present Christian Church in Japan is gradually coming to understanding of the importance of functional preserving traditional burial rites for Japanese converts, so it has significantly broadened its rituals in this sphere, having added elements non-characteristic of Western Christianity, especially Protestantism. In some cases this enlargement has not only lead to formal changes in Christian rites, but also to dogmatic shifts.