Photo/Illutration A mummy believed to be the remains of Ichirobe Yamada (Provided by Ayako Tsuge)

Descendants of a business entrepreneur who died close to a century ago were stunned to discover that an ancestor’s last wish to be mummified was carried out.

In his will, Ichirobe Yamada left instructions for his body to be accorded rituals more commonly associated with ancient Egyptians.

On May 13, after 10 hours or so of digging and exhuming remains from coffins within coffins, Yamada’s descendants did indeed find a mummy under Yamada’s grave in Fujiidera, Osaka Prefecture. While a positive identification has yet to be made, it seemed almost certain that Yamada’s last wish was fulfilled.

Yamada, according to his relatives, was born in 1851 in what is now Fujiidera and made a fortune selling dyes and through foreign trade. He was involved in establishing two separate institutions of higher education for women and died in 1928 at the age of 77.

Atsuko Matsuo, 66, one of Yamada's great-granddaughters, recalled being told by her mother that Yamada was mummified before being immersed in his final resting place.

“He left a will with his son asking that mummification be carried out at a hospital,” she said. Why Yamada felt the need to do so is not known.

Matsuo said she had always felt uncomfortable talking about her family's history as she thought no one would believe her.

But matters took a turn after plans were made to build a condominium on the grave site. That involved the arduous task of removing Yamada’s grave, so his descendants began digging.

After the upper layer of soil was removed, a concrete chamber measuring 3 meters by 1.7 meters by 1.3 meters came into view. An iron coffin was found inside the sarcophagus, and when the lid was removed a wooden coffin emerged.

Ayako Tsuge, 43, one of Yamada’s great-great-grandchildren, said, “It was like a ‘matryoshka’ doll” famous in Russia because smaller and smaller dolls emerge when the tops are removed.

The wooden coffin contained a notice requesting that should it become exposed during a natural disaster the remains “be handled with the utmost respect.”

When the wooden coffin was opened, a metal coffin emerged.

“Another coffin always emerged whenever we opened one up,” Tsuge said.

It took more than 10 hours to finally locate the last coffin.

According to Tsuge, a mustache and hair was still visible on the mummy, and what appeared to be teeth.

“We couldn’t stop crying because we were so utterly surprised,” Tsuge said.

Kazuhiro Sakaue, a researcher of forensic anthropology at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, noted that it is extremely rare in the modern age for anyone to request that they be mummified "so the discovery has extremely high value.”

The family had planned to cremate the remains on May 15, but put off doing so at the advice of Sakaue and will cooperate with scientific research.