Dominance of Buddhist funeral

It is commonly believed that Japanese people are born with Shinto rituals and die in Buddhist ceremonies. Statistics provided by the Japan Consumers’ Association shows that there are 90.1% of Japanese funerals in Buddhist rituals while only 3.4% and 2.4 % in Shinto and non-religious ceremonies respectively (Funerals in Japan, 2015).

Origins of Buddhist funerals

In Japanese history, Buddhism became an administrative tool for the political regime under the Tokugawa period. It is not new for Japanese people has an official connection with a local temple but Tokugawa enabled almost the whole population to engage themselves in temples. The reason behind this might come from the afraid of the rise of Christian at that time. So the government expects all people not secretly followed Christian by issuing the policy called Danka system (Jidan System or Terauke system). All people were demanded to register at temples as Buddhist parishioners. There was a certificate provided annually by temples in order to prove a parishioner in the household who was not secretly Christian. On the other hand, parishioners had duties to their temples in terms of participating rituals (funerary and memorial rites) and supporting monetary support.

In fact, most households at that time signed up with their local temples no matter they understood the sect or doctrines of Buddhism, just because they wanted to avoid possible troubles with the government. In addition, when the head of family registered this certificate, it passed down to next generations then they will affiliated to a particular temple that results like social status or intangible assets. (Perez, 2002, p. 44)

Although the Meiji government abolished the Danka System at the end of the 19th century, Japanese people have still followed the rituals of their ancestors. Besides, their past family members buried in the temple graveyards and the priests became their keeper, so it is unexpectable to abandon one’s ancestors. (Covell, 2005, p. 27)

As a result, Buddhism changed from its original role of providing spiritual guidance and became a religious rituals in association with death and the afterlife.

Traditional Buddhist funeral

Death is only a part of the life cycle. So Buddhist funerals will prepare not only for the death in the afterlife but also for their family in dealing with the mourning in a proper ritualized manner. Thus, the two main duties of the Buddhists priests attending the wake and the funeral are the reciting of the sutra and the administration of a posthumous precept name, kaimyo ((a new Buddhist name given for the deceased by priests), that makes sure the dead to proceed safely to the next world. (Suzuki, 2000, p. 167-168) Each school of Buddhism has its own procedures for carrying out funerals. Despite its differences, there are commonly shared structure of rituals (Walter, 2009) as below:

  1. Initiatory stage
    • a. Pillow sutra
    • b. The wake
    • c. Funeral proper
  2. Ordination of the dead: the head towards the north or the west (the western realm of Amida Budha).
  3. Leading the deceased to the other world
    • a. Departure of the casket
    • b. Cremation and gathering the remains
    • c. Installation of the remains in the grave
  4. Transfer of merit

Problems in Buddhism funerals nowadays

Workaholic is well-known Japanese lifestyle in the modern era. One of the significant developments is urbanization where most young people has been moving to seek job opportunities and settling down for better welfare system. This results in downsizing of family from extended to nuclear unit and loosing knot-tie in maintaining traditions. On the other hand, the connection between generations as well as with local temples is also fading. In addition, most Japanese has no longer understood well the Buddhist significance of the funeral. They also changed their perception of death and see the funeral as simple as an opportunity to say final goodbyes. The procedure of the funeral is shorten to few hours so the Buddhist priest has only about 1 hour to finish all rituals.

Another reason for the crisis in Buddhist funerals may come from the high expense. In Japan, there are several criticisms for Buddhist priests who charged unreasonable prices for giving kaimy. The cost of a Buddhist funeral ranges from 15 million up to 100 million yen which is unable to afford by low and middle income households. (Abe Naobumi, 2001, p.73) As a result, there are koken (condolence money or gift) given by guests in the funeral to shoulder a part of the burden of the family. However, the amount is not so much that the family can afford the rest, many people change to the alternative funerals in forms of jumokuso or shizenso which is economical cost.

Last but not least, the growing funeral industry has also contributed in declining traditional funerals and replacing them with a simpler, compact and convenient ceremonies.

Conclusion

There is a declining trend in the role of Buddhism, particularly in the funeral in Japan society. The majority has not seen the need for expensive and meaningless funerals with respect to Buddhist rituals. The changes in Japanese lifestyle and the open door to foreign values can influence on Japanese funeral and this reflects their adaptation in new era. However, the question is whether is the negative or the positive of a society when people no longer follow long-held tradition and disconnect with their ancestors in form of rituals. Can they maintain religious values without rituals? In my opinion, every change has both sides. Change is unavoidable in association with economic growth and globalization. The key point here is how to educate young generations and figure out the adaptive measures to main valuable significance of Buddhism. Ultimately, the value in thinking about death is that it makes you value your finiti life more.


References

  • Funerals in Japan. (2015, July 5). Retrieved December 20, 2019, from https://www.nippon.com/en/features/jg00039/funerals-in-japan.html.
  • Perez, Louis G. (2002) Daily Life in Early Modern Japan. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
  • Covell, Stephen G. (2005) Japanese Temple Buddhism: Worldliness in a Religion of Renunciation. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
  • Suzuki, Hikaru (2000) The Price of Death: The Funeral Industry Contemporary in Japan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
  • Walter, Mariko N. (2009) “The Structure of Japanese Buddhist Funerals” in Jacqueline I. Stone & Mariko N. Walter (Eds.), Death and the Afterlife in Japanese Buddhism (pp. 247-293). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
  • Naobumi, Abe (2001) The 100% Complete Illustrated Guide to Japanese Systems: Society, Customs, Health Care, Recreation, and Sports. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
  • The current situation of funerals in Japan. (2017, April 28). Retrieved December 20, 2019, from https://www.cao.go.jp/consumer/history/04/kabusoshiki/other/meeting5/doc/170428_shiryou5_1.pdf .
  • The current situation of funerals in Japan. (2017, April 28). Retrieved December 20, 2019, from https://www.cao.go.jp/consumer/history/04/kabusoshiki/other/meeting5/doc/170428_shiryou5_1.pdf .
  • Japanese Funeral Etiquette: Some Helpful Guidelines. (2018, February 19). Retrieved December 20, 2019, from https://www.realestate-tokyo.com/living-in-tokyo/religion/funerals/.
  • Efanova, N. (2013). Retrieved from https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/14904/1/BA Thesis Nika Efanova.pdf