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For example, on Respect for the Aged Day back in September, my host family (who is "not religious") brought me along as they went to pay respects to family members that had passed away. We brought pears, onigiri, and flowers to place in the butsudan of my host grandmother's elder sister. Everyone then proceeded to greet her by clapping twice (something that people do to get the spirits' attention) and then praying silently. My family asked me to do the same so that I could introduce myself to her.
The same day we attended a huge matsuri dedicated to this tradition. Along with all the food, crafts, and shopping we happned to come across an a area covered in Jizo statues. My host mother told me that they were the guardians of children that were aborted, stillborn, or miscarried. It was a bit shocking, but at the same time comforting to see the care that is taken to provide for the dead.
The last stop we made was at the cemetery. In Japan, there is no staff to take care of the grave stones, instead family members come and wash the gravestones of past relatives. In America we instantly associate the dead with a religion of some kind. For my family these religious practices have become such an integrated part of their lives that it's just something that's the natural thing to do.
3 comments:
I've seen the ritual of pouring water over graves before, but I never understood what it meant. I can't help but notice how closely all the graves are packed together, though. Is cremation more common, or am I not seeing the whole picture?
It's an odd sort of dichotomy between our cultures; Their gravestones are shining, polished shrines packed close together, while ours tend to be thin slabs of unpolished stone given lots of room in an open field. Is the small size of the burial plot cultural or necessary?
The small plots are a necesity because Japan is very pressed for open space, but it's also cultural. Over 99% of the deceased are cremated here, according to a 2005 statistic, and most of the time the ashes are housed in the stones. It is a really interesting contrast to American cemeteries. We tend to find cemeteries sad and depressing, but here they view death differently. That's not to say that death isn't a sad thing in Japan, but their views are fundamentally different from Western cultures.
It is a normal thing to do, that is to care for ancestors in Japan. Nice summary of your experience with your host family. It matches nicely with the Reader article from class.
I read a while back where people who cannot actually visit their ancestor's grave can view them on an internet site. One of your classmates recently blogged about QR codes being used at graves.
Near my home is a graveyard and across the street from that is a flower shop. People seem to pay the flower shop workers to take care of the graves and places flowers there at approrpriate times.
It's normal to do, and I suppose it's getting normal to find easier ways of doing it.
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