Summits Where Souls Gather

Rituals have played a vital role in the wake of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters that struck northeastern Japan on 11 March 2011 (subsequently referred to as “3.11”). Rituals have enabled survivors to differentiate social order from the immediate chaos of disaster, to mourn, to overcom...

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Pubblicato in:Journal of Religion in Japan
Autore principale: Dahl, Shayne A.P. (Autore)
Tipo di documento: Elettronico Articolo
Lingua:Inglese
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Pubblicazione: Brill 2017
In: Journal of Religion in Japan
(sequenze di) soggetti normati:B Tohoku (Regione) / Catastrofe / Dewa Sanzan / Pellegrinaggio / Commemorazione / Rituale / Storia 2011-2016
Notazioni IxTheo:AF Geografia delle religioni
AG Vita religiosa
BL Buddhismo
BN Scintoismo
KBM Asia
KCD Agiografia
NBK Soteriologia
TK Età contemporanea
Altre parole chiave:B Disaster religion ritual mountain pilgrimage Shugendō
Accesso online: Volltext (Verlag)
Descrizione
Riepilogo:Rituals have played a vital role in the wake of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters that struck northeastern Japan on 11 March 2011 (subsequently referred to as “3.11”). Rituals have enabled survivors to differentiate social order from the immediate chaos of disaster, to mourn, to overcome grief, and to exorcise the spirits of the disaster dead. Yet, much remains to be learned about the transformative potential of ritual after 3.11. The significance of pilgrimage, for instance, which is a prominent aspect of religious practice in Japan, has received minimal attention. In this article, I draw on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Dewa Sanzan, a sacred mountain range in Yamagata Prefecture, to discuss mountain pilgrimage for post-disaster memorialization. I argue that the event of 3.11 expanded the ontological meaning of the summit of Gassan 月山 (Mount Moon), thought to be an axis between the world of the living and that of the ancestral dead. Pilgrimage to the peak of Gassan has become a path of remembrance and overcoming, a formula for posthumous care, and an act of hope in post-disaster Japan.
ISSN:2211-8349
Comprende:In: Journal of Religion in Japan
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/22118349-00601006