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A Comparative Study of Post-Funerary Rites in Japanese and Mormon Culture

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A Comparative Study of Post-Funerary Rites in Japanese and Mormon Culture 14-20_a_Remy_Capener Winner.qxp 11/14/2006 12:28 PM Page 14 SUNSTONE 2006 R. L. “Buzz” Capener Memorial Writing Contest in Comparative Religious Studies, First Place Winner SAVING THE DEAD A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF POST-FUNERARY RITES IN JAPANESE AND MORMON CULTURE By John Dewey Remy Cultural analysis is (or should be) guessing dead can be performed only in LDS tem- at meanings, assessing the guesses, and ples—specific sacred locales. A fasci- drawing explanatory conclusions from the nating similarity is the existence of the better guesses. contractual relationships that exist be- —CLIFFORD GEERTZ1 tween the living and the dead in both re- ligious cultures. LTHOUGH FUNERARY RITES are nearly universal, ritual sys- COGNITIVE CONTEXT A tems based on continuing rela- What principles bind the various rituals for tionships between the dead and the the dead into coherent systems within Japan living are less common. Two such sys- and Mormonism? tems of veneration for the dead include rites practiced by the Japanese and those by ECAUSE BUDDHISM AND DEATH members of the Church of Jesus Christ of are so closely associated in Japan, Latter-day Saints. B and because ancestor worship is sup- Intrigued by this shared trait between ported by Buddhist priests, many rites are two otherwise very different cultures, I set conducted in the home at the family but- out to learn more about each system by sudan (literally, “Buddhist altar”), and the holding them next to each other in an in- dead spirit is often called hotoke depth comparative study. Although I rec- (Buddha). Given these meanings, we ognized from the start the problems in- may be tempted to assume that Japanese herent in comparing the ritual practices of death rites are primarily Buddhist in na- a particular religious tradition with the ture. However, Japanese attitudes towards much broader, syncretistic system of death are highly syncretistic. Ancestor ven- Japanese ancestral worship, I was very pleased eration in Japan is a complex mix of tradi- with what I found: my research revealed inter- tions, beliefs, and practices. In addition to esting similarities and differences. The most striking Buddhist funerary rites, one can find Shinto concepts difference I noticed is the strong relationship between time about the impurity of death, Taoist geomancy,2 and and Japanese ritual and between place and Mormon temple Confucian ideals of loyalty and filial piety. When these ele- ordinances. While Japanese rites venerating ancestors have to ments are mixed together, they form the core concept of an- be performed at particular times, Mormon ordinances for the cestor worship in Japan: the idea that the spirits of individual ancestors depend on rites performed by their descendants in JOHN DEWEY REMY is a graduate student in religious order to achieve their ultimate destiny of incorporation into studies at California State University, Long Beach. He is a regular contributor to SunstoneBlog.com and explores reli- the ancestral spirit. gious topics on his personal site at mindonfire.com. He wel- Through a series of rites, the spirit moves from impure as- comes comments on this article at [email protected]. sociation with death to ultimate assimilation into the pure and PAGE 14 NOVEMBER 2006 14-20_a_Remy_Capener Winner.qxp 11/14/2006 12:28 PM Page 15 SUNSTONE godlike ancestral spirit. William LaFleur explains that with The period of time that has elapsed since the death of a each successive rite, the family perceives “that the deceased is family member changes the nature of the decedent’s relation- more and more rarefied—at least as someone with whom the ship with the living relatives. Each death in Japan begins a new living need to deal.”3 Following key ceremonies, a wooden an- series of memorial rites that mark the progression of the spirit cestral tablet representing the spirit is sometimes moved to over time from shirei to sorei—from association with the im- higher platforms, a symbolic gesture that recognizes the ances- pure corpse to the more benign ancestral spirit to its ultimate tor’s increasing status and refinement in the afterlife. The final assimilation into the collective ancestral spirit.5 Through this state of the spirit represents an anonymous amalgamation of process, the spirit is completely pacified, loses all individuality, all of the spirits of family ancestors, whose purpose is to ensure and joins the corporate ancestor at the thirty-third anniversary the prosperity of their line. By taking care of their dead, the of its death6—the survivors have done all that they were re- living Japanese are entitled, in return, to the protection and quired to do and have nothing to fear from the spirit from this helpful intervention of their empowered predecessors. point forward.7 Mormon veneration for the dead, on the other hand, These memorials (senzo kuyô) consist primarily of sutra- springs from the doctrine first taught by Joseph Smith that all chanting by Buddhist priests on behalf of the deceased (in cer- people—living and dead—are required to receive specified re- emonies sponsored by surviving relatives). They typically ligious ordinances to qualify for eternal salvation in God’s occur on important anniversaries, including the first, third, kingdom. Because one cannot participate in these ordinances seventh, and every six years after that, up to the thirty-third. without a physical body, the disembodied spirits of the dead These less frequent services are augmented by regular ritual at- are at a disadvantage but can overcome this obstacle if the tention paid to the memory of the deceased at the home altar. living stand in as proxies for them. Relatives may light incense and present small daily offerings to Joseph Smith also taught that family relationships can sur- the deceased. Some anniversaries are more important than vive beyond bodily death. Through temple sealing, the family others. can theoretically have a chain of death-proof bonds extending The forty-ninth day (shijukunichi) memorial, hatsubon cele- all the way back to Adam. Indeed, this is one of the ultimate bration, and thirty-third death anniversary memorial mark sig- goals of Mormon temple work for the dead—to create patriar- nificant changes in the status of the dead spirit and its relation- chal bonds in an unbroken chain back to the father and patri- ship with the living. During the first seven weeks, the spirit is arch of all humanity. still strongly associated with the body, and the physical pres- Mormons are taught that their eternal livelihood depends in ence of the deceased is reinforced by the frequency of the rites part on the diligence with which they perform these necessary during this period. The spirit is also dangerous and unpre- rites for their dead. Joseph Smith taught the Saints that “if they dictable at this time. The forty-ninth day rite marks the end of neglected to search out their dead and provide by proxy the the mourning period. At this time, the spirit essentially picks means for their salvation, they did so at the peril of their own up and moves out of the home and settles in the grave. When salvation, for the living could not be made perfect without this happens, attitudes within the family toward the deceased their dead.”4 change. Certain seasons are also closely associated with the dead. Of SAVING RITES these annual events, the Bon festival in August is the most im- Assisting one’s ancestors on the path to godhood portant. The first Bon celebration after death (hatsubon) is a critical event both for the capricious and unrefined spirits of ITUALS PERFORMED BY the living for the dead form the new dead and for their surviving relatives. Hatsubon obser- the building blocks for social frameworks in which re- vances are intended to appease and send off the spirits of those R lationships between the living and the dead can exist. who died since the previous Bon celebration. The hatsubon is The contexts for these relationships differ greatly between the considered a rite of passage for the new dead; they become two cultures. In Japan, the passage of time defines the ritual re- “purified ancestral spirits” during this celebration.8 This first lationship, while within Mormonism, it is location that con- Bon celebration for a family who has lost a loved one since the strains the ritual interaction between the living and the dead. previous summer is thick with death significance. In Japan, rites for the dead are closely associated with events After the rites of the hatsubon, the families of the deceased that occur at ritually significant times; within Mormonism, (and the surrounding community) can rest a bit now that the saving ordinances for the dead must take place within the their recent dead have passed from the more dangerous and temple. unpredictable shirei state to the more sedate, benevolent, and I do not mean that location is not important to the obser- private sorei state. The spirit settles into a long period of pu- vance of Japanese rites for the dead. These take place in a va- rification through family memorials as it slowly progresses to riety of locales—some at the Buddhist temple, some at the but- its final state of incorporation into the collective ancestral sudan within the home, and others within the village during spirit. the Bon festival. Time, however, is the primary factor when The final rite is performed on the thirty-third anniversary of considering the progression of the shirei (lit. “dead spirit”), or the death. The ceremonies performed at this time mark the new dead, along its path to joining the sorei (ancestral spirit). spirit’s final incorporation into the collective ancestral spirit.
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