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Created page with " Burial practices in Japan changed considerably over time, and according to social class, among other factors. Since the introduction of Buddhism in the 6th century or so,..."
Burial practices in Japan changed considerably over time, and according to social class, among other factors. Since the introduction of [[Buddhism]] in the 6th century or so, that tradition has dominated burial and memorial practices for the vast majority of Japanese, albeit with some notable exceptions: Imperial burials, for example, were divorced to a great extent from Buddhist trappings in the [[Meiji period]], and continue to be surrounded by constructions of [[State Shinto]] today.
==Kofun==
::''Main article: [[Kofun]]''
From roughly the 3rd to 7th centuries CE, local elites across much of the Japanese archipelago were buried in massive tumuli, or tomb-mounds, called ''[[kofun]]''. The [[Kofun period]] of Japanese history is named after this practice. ''Kofun'' varied greatly in size, and experienced some notable shifts in shape over time. The largest were centered in the [[Kinai]] ([[Kansai]]) region, though a great many can be found across western Japan, including in [[Kyushu]], as well as on the Korean peninsula. ''Kofun'' were often topped or surrounded by clay figures known as ''[[haniwa]]'', which are believed to have performed some kind of spiritual protective function, or perhaps to have simply served as ornamentation, signalling the wealth or power of the occupant of the tomb. The tombs were composed largely of earth, atop a core of stone corridors, containing one or more chambers of grave goods, including weapons, armor, pottery, and ''[[magatama]]'' beads.
Commoners during this time were often buried in clay pots. Fields of such pots have been uncovered.
==Buddhist Burial==
The spread of Buddhism brought the decline and eventual disappearance of the ''kofun''. Bodies continued to be buried, however, for some centuries before the practice of cremation became standard.
As late as the [[Heian period]], most graves, including those of top-ranking [[kuge|aristocrats]], were left unmarked. The early 12th century text ''[[Eiga monogatari]]'' is among the earliest describing the visit of a member of the [[Fujiwara clan]] to his father's grave, and even in this case the grave is unmarked, and the individual expresses his woe at being unable to find its precise location. The practice of cleaning or maintaining gravesites was also not standard at this time, and so he finds his father's grave (or, at least, its rough vicinity) overgrown with weeds. Prof. Hank Glassman suggests that the advent of the custom of visiting and maintaining gravesites may have been spurred by the adoption into Japan of [[Song Dynasty]] [[Neo-Confucianism]], which emphasizes [[filial piety]] (devotion and loyalty to one's parents).<ref name=glassman>Hank Glassman, "Remembering the Dead in Medieval Japan: On the Origins of Stone Grave Markers," talk given at University of California, Santa Barbara, 7 May 2015.</ref>
The earliest grave markers were likely flat wooden slats, carved at one end into the shape of a ''[[gorinto|gorintô]]'' [[stupa]]. By the 12th century or so, these developed into fully three-dimensional wooden ''gorintô'' (wooden grave markers roughly in the shape of a five-story pagoda), and then later into stone ones. The custom of employing wooden slats survives, however, and it is quite standard today for the family of the deceased to pay Buddhist monks to inscribe Chinese & Sanskrit calligraphy on new wooden slats, called ''sotoba'', every day for the first week after burial, and on an annual basis from then on.
This practice of marking graves with wooden, and later stone, markers is believed to have been imported from the Continent, although the ''gorintô'' form is a distinctively Japanese one, and does not generally appear on Chinese graves. The first stone ''gorintô'' grave markers were erected for members of the aristocracy, and elite monks, by Chinese stonecarvers who had been brought over to Japan to aid in the reconstruction of the great temple at [[Todai-ji|Tôdai-ji]], in [[Nara]], which had been destroyed in the [[Genpei War]] ([[1180]]-[[1185]]). Some of the very first such stone ''gorintô'' grave markers may have been erected at [[Mt. Koya|Mt. Kôya]]. The practice quickly spread, however, with stone markers of this type appearing in places as disparate as [[Hiraizumi]] (in the north, modern-day [[Iwate prefecture]]) and parts of Kyushu less than a century later. [[Yi Xingmo]] and a number of the other Chinese stonemasons remained in Japan, with their disciples and descendants developing into the [[Okura school|Ôkura]] and [[I school|I (Yi) schools]] of stoneworking.
==Edo Period==
As in earlier periods, burial practices in the Edo period differed considerably by hierarchical class. The tomb of [[Tokugawa Tsunayoshi]] (d. [[1716]]) at [[Zojo-ji|Zôjô-ji]] is perhaps indicative of the typical form of shogunal burial. A small stone pagoda-like structure stands at the center of a stone platform, ringed by a stone fence. The shogun is buried some distance below, underground, in a wooden coffin, within another wooden ([[paulownia]]) casket, within a burial chamber of cut stone.<ref name=rekihaku>Gallery labels, "What Graves say about Status and Wealth," National Museum of Japanese History.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/12591356384/sizes/o/]</ref> Shogunal tombs at [[Kan'ei-ji]] are each located within their own distinct section of the cemetery grounds, each with their own lavish vermillion-painted gateway, ornamented with a plaque inscribed by the Emperor himself.<ref>Plaques on-site at the mausoleum gates of shogunal graves, Kan'ei-ji.</ref>
The grave of [[Makino Tadakazu]] (d. [[1735]]), lord of [[Nagaoka han]], at the [[Makino clan]] [[family temple]] of [[Saikai-ji]] in Tokyo, might be taken as an example of a typical ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' burial. Makino is also buried in a double set of wooden caskets, within a cut-stone burial chamber, though the above-ground portion of the tomb is far less extensive. It consists chiefly of a single ''hôkyôintô'' pagoda-like stone marker.<ref name=rekihaku/>
The grave of a ''[[hatamoto]]'' of 400 ''tawara'' income, at Jishô-in, consists of a stone dolmen burial chamber, containing a Tokoname ware ceramic pot, within which the body was interred.<ref name=rekihaku/>
For at least some portion of the commoner population, it was common to be buried in wooden caskets, sometimes rather roughly made ones, and buried alongside numerous others.<ref name=rekihaku/>
==Graves in Okinawa==
::''Main article: [[Okinawan graves]]''
Burial practices in Okinawa developed along a separate lineage from those of mainland Japan; though still closely tied to Buddhism, Okinawan graves and the practices surrounding them bear much more in common with customs from certain parts of southern China.
Mound tombs remained quite common in Okinawa into the early modern period, and today it is quite standard among Okinawan people to have the whole family buried in a common family tomb. While Japanese families may also share a family tomb, with the cremated remains of family members being interred under a common tombstone, Okinawan tombs are small stone structures unto themselves, with several chambers under a single roof. When a family member passes away, their body is placed within the central chamber, and some time later the bones are washed in a ritual known as ''senkotsu'' (lit. "washing bones"), and placed in a ceramic or stone urn, which is then interred alongside the urns of other family members in one of the tomb's side chambers. Living family members gather and picnic in a small stone-paved area immediately in front of the tomb on ''[[shiimiisai]]'', a grave-cleaning festival related to the [[Qingming Festival]] observed in China.
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==References==
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[[Category:Buddhism]]