Japanese death rituals in transit: From household ancestors to beloved antecedents
The recent trend in contemporary Japanese funerals reflects changing family relationships, religious affiliation and individual values. Increasingly, Japanese people are conducting a living-funeral or a non-religious funeral (as opposed to a common Buddhist funeral), and dispersing ashes after crema...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[1998]
|
| In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
Year: 1998, Volume: 13, Issue: 2, Pages: 171-188 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | The recent trend in contemporary Japanese funerals reflects changing family relationships, religious affiliation and individual values. Increasingly, Japanese people are conducting a living-funeral or a non-religious funeral (as opposed to a common Buddhist funeral), and dispersing ashes after cremation. Such funeral ceremonies and mortuary rites demonstrate the isolation of the elderly during the process of dying, the asymmetrical relationship between the deceased and the bereaved, and the attenuating ties between people and Buddhist temples. The fundamental change that underlies these transformation of funerary practices, I argue, is the shift from the ancestor worship that values the deceased for the purpose of household perpetuation, to the memorialism of individuals that celebrates the deceased's personal life based on the bereaved's love toward the deceased. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537909808580829 |