contributor
26,975
edits
Changes
From SamuraiWiki
Jump to navigationJump to searchno edit summary
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.<ref name=glassman/>
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.<ref name=glassman/>
All Emperors from [[Emperor Shomu|Shômu]] ([[724]]-[[749]]) to [[Emperor Komei|Kômei]] ([[1846]]-[[1867]]) were buried in Buddhist ceremonies; all those from [[Empress Jito|Empress Jitô]] ([[686]]-[[697]]) until the beginning of the [[Edo period]], with a few exceptions, were cremated. Early in that period, from Jitô (686-697) until [[Emperor Junna]] ([[823]]-[[833]]), the bones remaining after cremation were powdered and scattered.<ref name=amino>Amino Yoshihiko. "Deconstructing 'Japan'." ''East Asian History'' 3 (1992), 122.</ref>
From [[Emperor Komyo|Emperor Kômyô]] ([[1336]]-[[1347]]) onwards, for a time, Emperors were buried at sites chosen by Buddhist ritual, nearby to a major temple; funerary rites associated with cremation were employed, but the bodies were actually buried.<ref>This and the previous statement seem to contradict one another; it is unclear from Amino's text which was the case.</ref> Beginning with [[Emperor Go-Kogon|Emperor Go-Kôgon]] ([[1352]]-[[1370]]),<ref>Or possibly [[Emperor Go-Mizunoo]] (r. [[1611]]-[[1629]]), as indicated in Amino, p141.</ref> a number of emperors were buried in simple graves, and without tumuli, at [[Sennyu-ji|Sennyû-ji]]; [[Emperor Go-Hanazono]] was an exception.<ref name=amino/>
==Edo Period==
==Edo Period==
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/>
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/>
==Meiji Period==
A reconfiguration of Imperial burial practices was one of a number of key elements of the [[Meiji government|Meiji government's]] [[haibutsu kishaku|anti-Buddhist policies]], and construction of [[State Shinto]]. [[Emperor Komei|Emperor Kômei]] (d. [[1867]]) was the last emperor to be given a Buddhist funeral. When his consort, [[Empress Dowager Eisho|Empress Dowager Eishô]], died in [[1897]], she was given a funeral in the newly invented tradition of State Shintô, albeit on the grounds of Sennyû-ji. This was the last Imperial funeral to take place at a Buddhist temple. Their son, the [[Meiji Emperor]], was given a State Shintô funeral following his death in [[1912]]. A temporary structure called the ''sôjôden'' was constructed at the Aoyama Parade Grounds (today, the outer gardens of [[Meiji Shrine]]), where a funeral ceremony was performed before placing the imperial casket on a funeral train to Kyoto. The grave of the Meiji Emperor, the last emperor to be buried in Kyoto, was erected in Fushimi-Momoyama, near that of [[Emperor Kammu]], the first to rule in Kyoto, and the first to be buried there. Both subsequent emperors after Meiji have been buried in Tokyo, at the [[Musashi Imperial Graveyard]] in Hachiôji.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', University of California Press (1996), 148-152.</ref>
==Graves in Okinawa==
==Graves in Okinawa==
