Ancestor Veneration, Japanese

In attempting to make sense of death and human experience, many societies have drawn on a discourse that emphasizes the sacred nature of family ties. Such a discourse encompasses beliefs, norms, understandings, and practices that foster continuing relationships between the living and the dead, in which the dead retain an active social presence in the lives of the living. These are explored by focusing on sosen sūhai, the Japanese form of ancestor veneration, as highly illustrative of the defining nature of discourses of death for the way people make sense of and structure their lives. This entry examines the way Japanese people [Page 46]relate to their ancestors through beliefs about life and death, family dynamics, political imperatives, and personal expression.

Beliefs about Life and Death

Ancestral ties are deeply embedded in the Japanese psyche to encompass a familial devotion that is spiritual, even mystical in character. Indeed, sosen sūhai represents an indigenous faith that has remained separate from more formal religious traditions, though having absorbed elements of these, particularly Buddhism. As such, the ancestors or senzo represent the main source of religious experience for Japanese people, who tend to consider themselves a secular nation. However, belief in an afterlife where one will eventually join the ancestors is widespread.

The mystical nature of family ties has its roots in early indigenous beliefs and customs that predate the influence of Buddhism, from which they have since been distinguished by the name of Shinto. These emphasize the presence and power of the natural world through the concept of kami, or spirits of nature on which the living depend for their existence. The sense of being surrounded and supported by spirits reflects an agrarian lifestyle based on continuity and harmony between the worlds of nature and culture through close-knit, enduring kinship groups whose dead members become kami. As such, they are objects of veneration.

With no distinct line between the living and the dead, or human and divine, the dead remain available to the living for support and protection, while continuing to depend on them for their well-being, requiring earthly nourishment and devotion from surviving kin. Without sufficient care and attention, the dead may use their supernatural powers to cause trouble for the living. Indeed the dead are feared both for their polluting powers through the corpse as well as the potentially dangerous nature of the spirit. The well-being of the living thus depends on administering to their needs through rituals designed to placate, purify, and petition them.

Family Dynamics

The household, or ie, has been the main context for such beliefs and the rites that support them since the 16th century, to shape the moral foundation of Japanese society. Reflecting a discourse of continuity, perpetuity, and harmony, the ie came to represent a spiritual community in which both living and dead family members were essential for its existence and responsible for its welfare and continuity. Such values could take precedence over blood ties. Though ideally the perpetual existence of the ie is based on a system of unilateral succession that is patrilineal and primogenitural, in practice it is not synonymous with kinship. Outsiders may be adopted in if they prove more capable of ensuring the ie's continued harmonious existence. These values are reflected in the mutual affection that characterizes Japanese ancestral ties, encompassing gratitude on both sides, the living for the legacy their ancestors have left them, and the dead for the continuing prosperity of their line.

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