For any individual, death is a necessary outcome of one’s life. Yet, death is almost always painful to accept. Having a better grasp of the symbolism of death might help us better appreciate life and its impermanence. Of particular interests to this paper are to understand how the Japanese come to terms with the notion of death and if death represents the final stage of the Japanese’s life cycle.

DEATH: A NECESSARY RITUAL

“Life strategies are intimately connected with the past, the past as an ordered succession of generations, as well as an ordered interpretation of death within the household.” (Hamabata, p.57) As such, it comes as no surprise that the Japanese have a deep respect for rituals which form an important aspect of life. Without rituals, life becomes meaningless for the individual. Through rituals, self-consciousness is awakened and helps make the connection with both the past (rituals for one’s ancestors) and the future (making sure one’s descendent will repeat the same rituals for oneself). This is vital because this process aids the Japanese to reflect on their present lives.

OBON: THE FESTIVAL OF THE DEAD

 

 

This is especially true as this process of reflection during obon (Festival of the Dead) “serves as a medium for heightening the experiences of self-understanding.” (Hamabata, p.56) The Japanese turn to Buddhism to give meaning to death. On the evening of Jul 13 (in Tokyo) or Aug 13 (for regions outside Tokyo), living members of the household walk to the temple graveyard to welcome home the dead. At the household tomb, the spirits are greeted and guided home with simple paper lanterns. At home, the flame from the lantern is then transferred to a candle on a specially constructed obon altar. On Jul 16 (in Tokyo) or Aug 16 (for regions outside Tokyo), the flame is transferred back to the lantern and the dead walked back to the household tomb, where they return to the spirit world.

Household members are solely responsible for maintaining the realm of the sacred during obon, as they set up the altar, make offerings of food and prayer and secure the presence of a priest to chant sutras. The items found on the obon altar themselves seek to remind one of the high value accorded to the concept of purity. The incense, which is a necessity is for okiyome (purification), just as the water in the lotus-leaf bowl is sprinkled with the bush clover on the 108 pieces of eggplant to cleanse life of the 108 sins of mankind. In some altars, the cucumber with four toothpicks stuck in it is in fact a horse, just as the eggplant is an ox. According to Japanese mythology, they provided a mode of transportation for the ancestors on their long journey from and back to the spirit world.

It must be emphasized that although obon is an important event, it is only a part of a whole ritual cycle that revolves around caring for the dead. As this suggests, death does not represent the final stage of the Japanese life cycle. It only marks the beginning.

THE DEPARTED, THE ANCESTORS AND THE OUTSIDERS

 

 

 

According to Plath, there are three categories of souls in the Japanese household religion, namely the departed, the ancestors and the outsiders. The departed (shiryoo) is the soul of the newly deceased. On the other hand, the ancestors (senzo) are all the departed regular members of the household who have been expunged from living memory. In sharp contrast to both shiryoo and senzo, the outsiders (muenbotoke) comprise “all homeless souls who are not regularly affiliated with any household.” (Plath, p.304)

However, in my opinion, Plath’s categorization for the muenbotoke is rather narrow and should be broadened to include the spirits who commit suicide or who died as an unmarried adult. The Japanese regard death as a natural dying process of a permanent member in the ie. By committing suicide, one has in fact chosen death over life when he can still live on. Similarly, when one fails to establish the family line and continue it for his descendents by procreation, he is cut off from the ie. Hence, in Japan where the concept of the ie is very strong, these two additional categories can be justified to be relegated to the class of muenbotoke.

 

Muenbotoke

do not have a personal tablet, unlike the senzo. Lacking a personal tablet, no soul is likely to be recognized or even known by name after four of five generations. For them, death would perhaps signify the final stage of his life cycle.

 

TRANSFORMING THE LIVING

 

 

 

Interestingly, the Japanese conceptualization of death has a dual function of both remembering and forgetting. Transforming the dead is the work of transforming the living and it starts at the funeral, the forty-ninth day, first obon and culminates in ancesterhood. All these are intended to cleanse the shiryoo of the pollution of death. Often referred to as nii-botoke (new-buddha) until sent away with all the other ancestors at the end of the first obon, the shiryoo retains some of the contamination of death that must be ritually cleansed.

Hamabata remarks that until “members of the household have aided in separating the shiryoo from direct involvement with life, it remains a source of danger for the living.” (Hamabata, p.59) This is because the spirit of the shiryoo remains a threat to the living, at least until the first obon following death. Until the shiryoo is removed from worldly concerns, there is a fear of curses by the shiryoo that may be incurred if he is thought to have been maligned in life. Thus, this implies that the dead must be appeased by the living members of the ie.

The dead are remembered through ancestor worship as the Japanese find themselves most deeply and directly affected through their dead kinsman. As a Japanese ie consists of both the living and the dead, both are essential to its existence. The living actively maintains the family line while the dead serve mainly as moral arbiters and as sources of emotional security which ensures the maintenance of household ties. For example, when the Japanese achieve something, they would inform the ancestors and offer incense at the butsudan (ancestral altar). This is perhaps why even cabinet members today visit the Ise Shrine to give thanks after being appointed positions in the cabinet. Also, if they have done something to shame the family, they would be reprimanded in front of the butsudan and made to feel ashamed of his own actions. The shelf is associated with the ie and with society in general. Rebelling before it is tantamount to rebelling against the whole world. The late Showa emperor was said to have visited Ise Shrine and reported the reasons for Japan’s defeat during World War II to Amateratsu, the Sun Goddess whom the Imperial family is believed to have been descended from.

During the first forty-nine days after a death, when the status of the departed’s soul changes from shiryoo to nii-botoke, the living members of the ie also participate in this transition by transforming their relationship to him from one with the living to one with the dead.

Whether death represents the final stage of the Japanese life cycle is dependent on the living members’ belief. As argued earlier, I am of the opinion that death is but a means to an end (ancesterhood), and cannot be regarded as the final stage. To visualize the deceased’s existence, one uses photographs and/or ancestral tablets kept inside the butsudan. This is where the memory of the ancestors is preserved. Gifts received by the house are often presented to the ancestors before they are opened, or placed inside the altar after the wrapping has been removed. Visiting members of the house have also been observed to have walked right past their living relatives to greet the ancestors before they acknowledge the human beings present. A married daughter might even ask permission from the household head of her natal family to allow her to make copies of her deceased parents’ memorial tablets and place these copies in the butsudan of her new household. This is done so that she can continue to remember her dead parents and seek emotional comfort.

TRANSFORMING THE DEAD

 

Obon and other memorial rites are part of a gradual ordered process of forgetting, whereby the deceased moves in gradual stages from the status of shiryoo to ancesterhood (senzo), as they are expunged from the memories of the living. This ordered process of forgetting takes the dead through a series of status transformation – from shiryoo to nii-botoke (new buddhas); from nii-botoke to hotoke (buddhas); from hotoke to senzo. This process of transforming the dead from shiryoo to senzo means that at some point in time, the living will let go finally and forget the dead, without any sense of guilt.

One important point to note is that not everyone gets to proceed on to ancesterhood. Because there are only two permanent positions – household head and household wife in an ie, the path to ancesterhood is restricted. The attainment of ancesterhood is determined by the attainment of a permanent position within an ie. Thus, it is clear that while some shiryoo will eventually become senzo, muenbotoke can never attain ancesterhood.

The rites performed by members of the ie to facilitate status transitions in the realm of the dead, from shiryoo to senzo, may be classified into two categories: the personal and the ancestral. Although the personal and the ancestral often overlap, seasonal rites tend to be weighted towards the ancestral, and the daily, monthly cum yearly rites towards the personal. The first obon is especially important in the personal cycle of attaining ancesterhood. Subsequent obon would be less important in the personal cycle. As the deceased makes his way into ancesterhood, the personal rites take on less significance and the ancestral rites, which are seasonal, take on greater significance. Thus in the personal cycle, the important dates are the forty-ninth day after death, the hundredth day, the first year, the third year, the seventh year, the thirteen year, the twenty-third and the final thirty-third or fiftieth anniversary of death. The seasonal rites are observed during the equinoxes and obon.

The ie members experience two periods of intense pressure, namely the time until the forty-ninth day and during the first obon. While the former is marked by a state of uncertainty and uneasiness as in the possible curses upon the living, the latter is one of joy as the deceased, who is now already a nii-botoke (after the forty-ninth day) will be on his way to becoming a hotoke in time to come. In addition, this also marks a time when the deceased will be finally sent off to the spirit world, when it is finally separated from direct involvement in the world of the living.

Many Japanese regard the thirty-third anniversary of death as the official transition point into ancesterhood. However, no one is quite sure when exactly the hotoke becomes a senzo. It could occur years before or after that date. It depends on the process of forgetting. In Machida’s words, “as long as death is seen from the viewpoint of life, memorial services such as ancestral worship are deemed important, but when life is seen from the viewpoint of death, such religious rituals begin to appear secondary.” (Machida, p.151) We can further interpret this as from the departed’s point of view, to be completely forgotten is in fact a blessing, as it means being allowed the path to a sacred existence as an ancestor. If so, then “according to Shinto, death would make the deceased into one of the gods, kami, who is to be respected and kept at a distance.” (Pinguet, p.52)

As the days, months and years pass after the day of the death, the living slowly but gradually let go of the dead and the dead begin to play a less significant role in the lives of the living. But until that happens, the dead and their memorial tablet do more than simply provide comfort for the living while they adjust to life without their loved ones.

DEATH: A TUSSLE IN POLITICS

 

 

 

Death situations can also be politically charged. The death of a family member becomes the venue where family hostility could be acted out, especially in a large extended family, where each member is eager to confirm his honke (main family) status and relegate the others to the bunke (branch family). Thus, whoever takes charge of the funeral preparations is seen as the one vested with power and authority in the ie and is certainly almost assured of the honke status.

MOCKERY OF THE DEATH RITUALS

 

 

 

It is perhaps ironic that death, not only in Japan, is transformed into a scene of mockery. Consider this scenario. The priest of a certain Buddhist temple has been engaged to direct the death ritual. He is the one who sets the mood and tone. He prescribes an atmosphere of elegance, with the sweet smell of flowers (not necessarily frangipanis, the flower of dead), the deep soothing sound of the sutras intoned and the heavenly veil of smoking incense. Everything seems strangely beautiful and mystifying. The bereaved forgets his own sorrow and is seen busy entertaining his friends or colleagues who come to this ‘gathering’ and are treated to a vegetarian dinner, light snacks like nuts or melon seeds and drinks in return for a nominal ‘fee’. In Singapore (at least), death funerals also double up as mahjong hot-spots where easy money can be made within a very short time. In short, my idea is that the bereaved becomes a directed actor in a play and there is someone giving him instructions on how to act and behave. Death is now seen as a lucrative business with high tangible profits as activities such as those described above have commercialized death and fees vary from a bland, simple event to a grand, pompous ceremony staged to show off the wealth of the household. As such, death no longer remains a private affair.

NOH: THE THEATRE OF DEATH

 

 

 

Japanese obsession with the notion of death is re-enacted on the stage, most promptly showcased by the Noh theatre. Zeami, Noh’s founding father, had always been intrigued by ghosts – ghosts seen, ghosts half-seen, ghosts seen in a dream between waking and sleeping. These have been common themes dominating Noh plays since the beginnings of the Noh theatre and they look set to continue into the future because as far as the Japanese are concerned, both the living and the ghosts of the dead co-exist; and via such plays, their understanding of the dead and their ghosts is heightened.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

 

 

 

Perhaps why death does not and will not represent the final stage in the Japanese life cycle is because the Japanese choose to memorialize the individual after death. Having done this, the existence of the deceased is recognized and respected though the deceased is no longer with the living. Memorializing the dead goes through a progressive stage whereby the dead is remembered on closer time frequency to an occasional remembrance up to a point when they are completely forgotten by their descendents who have lost track as to who their ancestors are. The Japanese conceptualization of death is a slow but gradual process of forgetting the dead and coming to terms with the lost of a loved one. Nevertheless, by being able to deal with the inevitability of death and accepting it, we unconsciously become better persons. 

Bibliography

Hamabata, Matthews Masayuki. Crested Kimono: Power and Love in the Japanese Business Family. New York: Cornell University Press, 1990.

Machida, Soho. Renegade Monk. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

Pinguet, Maurice. Voluntary Death in Japan. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1993.

Plath, David W. “Where the Family of God is the Family: The Role of the Dead in Japanese Households.” in American Anthropologist, Vol. 66, Part 1. Washington, 1964. 

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