also: しょなぬか
noun
memorial service on the seventh day after death
A Buddhist memorial service held on the seventh day after a person's death, counting the day of death as the first day. Part of a series of posthumous rites.
初七日は、亡くなった日から数えて七日目に行います。
The shonanoka memorial service is held on the seventh day counting from the day of death.
初七日の法要を営む
Hold a memorial service on the seventh day after death.
From 初 (sho, 'first') + 七日 (nanoka, 'seventh day'), referring to the first seventh-day memorial service in Buddhist tradition.