Japanese Ancestral Practices: A Contextualised Teaching Tool on the After-Life
Description:
Growth in the Japanese church has been slow. The biggest problem undoubtedly is that of ancestral practices. Without an acceptable way to honor the ancestors, Japanese Christians feel very cut off from their family. Very little is taught about the after-life and generally there are not church services that provide a genuinely Japanese way of regular rituals. This master's thesis seeks to give the background to the ancestral practices and how the church can discuss and practise ways of honoring the ancestors in a Christian way.
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Japanese Ancestral Practices: A Contextualised Teaching Tool on the After-Life
By
MARIANA NESBITT
ACKOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to give honour to our Lord who has led encouragement. Hirokawa Luke for his cultural insights, Dr Billy Nishioka, Dr Mitsuo Fukuda, Dr Yamaguchi and Dr Masanori Kurasawa for their useful discussions. Thanks to Mark Dominey, Chua How Chuang and Pat Hansen for helping me get started.
I am grateful for the linguistic help from Wakako Saito, Nakanishi Yooko and
Koba Noriko. Thanks to Sophia University and Kobe Lutheran Seminary for the
use of their libraries.
Mariana Nesbitt
July 2007
iv
v
SUMMARY
The vexing multi-dimensional question of Japanese Ancestral Practices
is central to most missiological studies in the Japanese church. Statistics show
the need for new strategies and a new movement of the Holy Spirit in the local
church.
This study examines the background of Ancestor Practices in the folk
religion, Buddhism, Shintoo, Confucianism and Taoism, which all go to make up
traditional Japanese religion. The actual rites are listed and details explained.
The nexus is the ie, the household. Later additions in Japanese religion are the
New Religions, which also emphasize ancestor practices, and new
developments, such as living funerals, ash-scattering and further developments
in popular occult practices and the influence of the media and the arts.
Focus groups of typical city dwellers have indisputably shown the effects
of secularisation, the change from ‘worship’ to ‘respect’ and a looser attitude
towards the butsudan and the rising importance of grave visits.
After examining the above, the abiding emergent themes of ancestor
practices are seen to be those of respect, family, gratitude, memorialism, ethics and identity. Are Scripturally forbidden issues involved here? Does
necromancy take place, what about offerings and prayer to the dead? And is
worship of the spirit and the mortuary tablet involved? Input about ancestor
practices in other lands gives perspective and new insights here.
Japanese Christian indigenous movements also show the same themes
and they go further than ‘orthodox’ Christian churches in their evangelism of the
dead and their care for their ancestors. Teaching about the afterlife in
Japanese seminaries is examined as well as the training given to missionaries
by missions, what the denominations teach and practice and in particular, what
OMF International missionaries are teaching and practicing with regard to the
dead. Space is given to the basic Biblical teaching on life after death with
reference to issues that require attention in the Japanese worldview.
vi
Perhaps the best contextualised part of the Japanese church are the
funeral services, showing the importance it holds in Japanese society, but basic
theology and worldview applications are lagging far behind. Japanese ministers
and missionaries have been slow to contextualise. Ethnocentric judgements
have led to a lack of seriousness towards the socio-cultural context. Various
useful models are described and the way in which syncretism and dual systems
occur. Guidelines to contextualisation suitable to Japan is proffered where
emotion, intuition, nature, mono aware, wabi are central. Ritual and the
inclusion of the Japanese 3-layered worldview is central, and logical
propositions are avoided, which are negated in imported Christianity.
To achieve cultural sensitivity the study uses the poetic tool, metaphor.
The metaphor of the warm hibachi is chosen, theoretically explained, and
elaborated as a feature of Japanese culture. Hibachi theology is then described
and information given for discussion around the ‘hibachi’ in the local church.
Gathering is a constitutive aspect of being Japanese and this would seem to be
the place for foundational substantive notions to be “taught” and discussed.
Vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................. iii
vii
LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................xi
LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................xi
1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................... 12
1.1 Relevance .......................................................................................... 12
1.2 The Problem and Questions to be Answered..................................... 15
1.3 Design and Methodology ................................................................... 15
1.4 Hypothesis, Assumptions and Limitations.......................................... 17
1.5 Historical Background ........................................................................ 18
1.6 Shintoo............................................................................................... 18
1.7 Confucianism ..................................................................................... 21
1.8 Buddhism........................................................................................... 24
1.9 Ancestral Rites................................................................................... 27
2 CONTEMPORARY BELIEFS & PRACTICES........................................... 30
2.1 The New Religions ............................................................................. 30
2.2 Changes in Death Practices............................................................... 33
2.2.1 Living Funeral ............................................................................. 34
2.2.2 Ash Scattering (Shizensoo)........................................................ 35
2.2.3 Eternally-worshipped graves (Eitai kuyoobo) ............................. 36
2.2.4 Death practices for aborted babies (Mizuko kuyoo) ................... 37
2.3 Popular Culture .................................................................................. 38
2.3.1 Manga / cartoons ........................................................................ 38
2.3.2 Films ........................................................................................... 39
viii
2.3.3 Japanese Students’ Images of the Soul...................................... 40
2.4 Focus Groups .................................................................................... 41
2.4.1 First group:.................................................................................. 41
2.4.2 Second Group:............................................................................ 42
2.4.3 Third Group:................................................................................ 42
3 EMERGENT THEMES AND KEY QUESTIONS ....................................... 44
3.1 Emergent Themes.............................................................................. 44
3.1.1 The ie / household / family .......................................................... 44
3.1.2 Interdependance of the Living and the Dead .............................. 45
3.1.2.1 Dependence of the Dead on the Living................................ 45
3.1.2.2 Dependence of the Living on the Dead................................ 46
3.1.3 Gratitude ..................................................................................... 46
3.1.4 Memorialism................................................................................ 46
3.1.5 Fear ............................................................................................ 47
3.1.6 Ethics .......................................................................................... 47
3.1.7 Identity ........................................................................................ 47
3.1.8 Respect/Honour .......................................................................... 48
3.2 Key Questions:................................................................................... 48
3.2.1 Are Scripturally Forbidden Issues Involved?............................... 48
3.2.2 Necromancy................................................................................ 48
3.2.3 Prayer to the dead ...................................................................... 50
3.2.4 Offerings to the Dead.................................................................. 51
3.2.5 Worship of the ihai, Bones, Tombstone, Ancestor Spirit ............. 53
3.2.6 Religion....................................................................................... 59
4 CHRISTIAN BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ................................................. 61
4.1 Indigenous Movements ...................................................................... 61
4.1.1 Memorialism................................................................................ 62
4.1.2 Evangelism of the ie.................................................................... 65
ix
4.1.2.1 Vicarious Baptism................................................................ 65
4.1.2.2 Vicarious Communion.......................................................... 66
4.1.2.3 Prayers for the Dead............................................................ 66
4.1.2.4 Preaching to the Dead ......................................................... 67
4.2 The Church: Teaching and Practice.................................................. 68
4.2.1 Nihon Kirisuto Koodan (United Church) ...................................... 69
4.2.2 Roman Catholic Church.............................................................. 70
4.2.3 Evangelical Lutheran Church...................................................... 70
4.2.4 Mission organisations ................................................................. 72
4.2.5 OMF Church Members ............................................................... 72
4.2.6 Hokkaidoo Japanese Pastors and OMF missionaries................. 73
4.2.7 Seminaries, Bible Colleges ......................................................... 74
4.3 Biblical Teaching on Relevant Issues of Life After Death................... 75
4.3.1 Life After Death........................................................................... 75
4.3.2 God, Man and Spirits .................................................................. 76
4.3.3 Sheol, Hades and Paradise ........................................................ 78
4.3.4 Heaven and the Resurrection ..................................................... 81
4.3.5 Hell and Judgement .................................................................... 83
4.3.6 Purgatory? .................................................................................. 83
4.3.7 The Communion of Saints .......................................................... 84
4.3.8 Family ......................................................................................... 85
5 CONTEXTUALISATION, HIBACHI METAPHOR...................................... 88
5.1 Failure and New Ways of Doing Theology ......................................... 88
5.1.1 Self-Theologizing ........................................................................ 89
5.1.2 Culture and Theology.................................................................. 90
5.1.3 Compelling Factors for Contextualising ...................................... 91
5.1.4 Who Does Contextualising?........................................................ 91
5.2 The Use of Models ............................................................................. 93
x
5.2.1 The Translation Model ................................................................ 94
5.2.2 The Anthropological Model ......................................................... 95
5.2.3 The Synthetic Model ................................................................... 96
5.3 Syncretism and Dual Systems ........................................................... 97
5.3.1 Ways of Encounter...................................................................... 98
5.4 Guidelines to Contextualisation in Japan ......................................... 101
5.4.1 Emotion, not Logical Propositions............................................. 101
5.4.2 A Three-Layered World-view .................................................... 101
5.4.3 Transformation of Ancestor Practices ....................................... 102
5.4.4 Self-Negation of Western Christianity ....................................... 103
5.4.5 Japanese View of Religious Truth............................................. 103
5.4.6 Believing Through Doing........................................................... 103
5.4.7 Not Logic, but Emotion and Intuition ......................................... 104
5.4.8 Nature, Mono aware and Wabi ................................................. 105
5.4.9 Ritual not Proposition................................................................ 106
5.4.10 Community, not Doctrine .......................................................... 107
5.5 Metaphor ....................................................................................... 108
5.5.1 The Japanese Hibachi .............................................................. 112
5.5.2 Hibachi Theology – The “Teaching Tool” .................................. 113
5.5.3 Discussion Material ................................................................... 116
5.6 Conclusion ....................................................................................... 121
5.6.1 Further Research...................................................................... 122
APPENDIX 1 .................................................................................................. 124
FOCUS GROUP 1 ...................................................................................... 125
FOCUS GROUP 2 ...................................................................................... 129
FOCUS GROUP 3 ...................................................................................... 132
APPENDIX 2 .................................................................................................. 135
No 1: Questions to mission organizations:................................................. 135
xi
No 2. Questions to members of OMF-led & Japanese-led churches: ........ 135
No. 3 Questions to Japanese Pastors in Hokkaido and OMF missionaries136
No. 4. Questions to Seminaries and Bible Colleges: ................................. 137
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................. 138
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1. The classification of impurity. ........................................................ 20
FIGURE 2. Van Genneps’ rites of passage. ................................................... 27
FIGURE 3: Hiebert’s Three Layered Model For Analyzing Worldview .......... 102
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Overt and Covert Culture; Form and Variation ................................. 58
Table 2: Memorialism and Ritual Care of the Dead......................................... 64
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1 INTRODUCTION
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Relevance
Ichijoo Shinya, vice-president of the Moon Rise funeral company
suggests that a monument be built on the moon so that all can gaze up and
commune with the dead on the moon. This is the contemporising of part of an
important element of Japanese culture. (Suzuki 2000:7) This difficult question
of ancestor practices goes back to the days of Matteo Ricci when Christianity
confronted it in China.
In this chapter we will look at the relevance of and need for the study,
give the hypothesis, assumptions held, state the design and methodology of the
study, state the research problem and questions to be studied. We will give the
religious and cultural background to the question of ancestor practices by
surveying the origins in Shinto, Confucianism and Buddhism as a historical
background. The ancestral rites will also be sketched, so that the reader can
soon see what the missionaries met when they first arrived in Japan.
Missionary activity in Japan dates back to 1549, but although there has
been a long history of missions, heavy expenditure in terms of personnel
(Japanese and foreign) the church is not growing. The relevance of the study
will quickly be seen in the following statistics and comments by missionaries,
Japanese pastors and academics.
The Church Information Service published the following: in 1982 total
membership of the Protestant Church was 371 865 and Sunday attendance
198 288. For (1995) and 2005: of a population of (124 655 498) 126 869 397,
with a total of churches (7 633) 7 799, membership is at (537 945), 555 742 that
(268 217) 279 750 attend regularly; the number of baptisms were 8 844 in
2005. Church School attendance in 2005 was 66 080. Number of churches (7
633) 7 799. This is similar for many churches. In 1972 the Religion Yearbook
of the Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs stated that Christian believers were
numbered at 825 991 and Beck writes in 1987 that the level is 1 438 699.
(Beck: Hayama Missionary Seminar 1987:74)
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In 2003 the Christian Newspaper reported that “less than 0,3 % are
active members of a Protestant church”, Strand (2004:283) puts this down to a
lack of dealing with the worldview of the Japanese. This surely includes the
central issue of the afterlife. Later on he goes on to say that deep level
changes are needed. “The afterlife is basic to the Japanese worldview”
(Strand,2004:284).
A Gallup poll done in March 2006 showed a surprising high number of
teens who claimed the Christian faith; “of the 20% who professed to have a
religion, 60% called themselves Buddhists, 36% Christians and followers of
Shintoo.” This statement is unclear. Poll: 75% Buddhists, 19% Shinto and
12% of those polled said they were Christians. George Gallup Jr. said
projections meant that 7% of total teenagers say they are Christians. This
could be exciting, except that there is doubt about the methodology and we
need to be reminded that in 1983 much the same percentages were given by
the Church Information Service statistics. Where are these people now?
(McKay: 2005)
The average time that a baptized believer stays in the church is 2 years.
Human relationships and lack of further teaching are said to be the cause for
this attrition. The largest denomination, the Japan Christ Kyoodan (Nikki
Kyoodan) reports that 200 churches have no pastors and within 10 years they
project that 500 will be without pastors. What really matters to the Japanese?
And what important issues are not being dealt with?
Central to Japanese life and worldview is the afterlife. New Christians
wrestle with the questions that come up, are too reserved to ask the pastor; and
very little or no answers (or answers that make sense in their world) are given
in sermons and Bible studies – this leaves the parishioner with many Buddhist
funerals and rituals to attend and take part in – and what to do? How to think
about it? Cognitive dissonance takes over and the embarrassed new Christian
gives up attending church. One mature Christian member of a Bible study was
asked if she had been taught about the afterlife in the 3 different denominations
she had been involved in since becoming a Christian. “Nothing, not in any of
them.”
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In 1983 Berentsen, the Norwegian missionary-scholar, attempted to
come to grips with the issue. He wrote the following: ”with regard to a
contextualised practice and liturgy (sic) is a question which points beyond the
task we set before us and is most confidently left to competent and mature
Japanese churches to answer” (1984:277). Other foreign writers have written
in the same vein, but in 2007 we still have no educational tool in the Japanese
church concerning life after death that is contextualised for missionaries to use.
Bong Rin Ro in Christian Alternatives to Ancestor Practices in 1985 wrote, “we
hope that this statement will be a stimulant to continue this study with other
evangelical scholars, pastors and church leaders “ (Bong Rin Ro 1985:10).
“Ancestral practices are central to the Japanese way of life” (Ooms,
1975), yet this aspect of Japanese religious life has been little studied by the
Christian church. The afterlife is also a central topic in the New Testament.
Strand (2004:3) quotes Iwasaka and Toelken:
Death is not only a common subject in Japanese folklore but
seems indeed to be the principal topic in Japanese tradition;
nearly every festival, every ritual, every custom is bound up in
some way with relationships between the living and the
dead…[death] brings into focus a number of other very important
elements in the Japanese world: obligation, duty, debt, honour
and personal responsibility.
Japanese Christian believers are taking part in ancestral practices in the
Buddhist fashion as well as in Christian rites. One of the reasons being that
there is no strong united guidance given in the churches and no alternatives. I
propose to show that the church is not being taught clearly, that seminaries are
not tackling the problem and that scholars write on the subject every 2 decades
and that the problem is then ignored again. Rowe (2000:374) called for an
already overdue new study of ancestor worship that will take into account new
approaches for memorial services
Further, in teaching situations with Japanese we have often been
stumped for a really satisfying, organized body of teaching on the subject. Most
missionaries and ministers in Japan find that when considering what the central
problems are in mission in Japan, that they are always brought back to ancestor
practices. Theological reflection is needed at this point where tension is felt the
most strongly. A contextualised teaching tool on the afterlife in the local church
15
is long overdue. Furuya (1996:6) stated that there is a poor view of “Japanese
theology”, among Japanese theologians, who are reminded of the attempt to
develop a “Japanese theology” during the war, mixing Christianity and
Shintoism. The need for a contextualised teaching tool is urgent, as can be
seen from church statistics, the present theological status in Japan and from the
spoken heart-felt needs of the Japanese Christians and seekers.
1.2 The Problem and Questions to be Answered
The study will comprise an enquiry to discover how to deal with the
issues that need to be addressed in a Japanese contextualised teaching tool on
the afterlife in the local church. This is the Research Problem. (Mouton 2001)
In order to discover these issues, the study needs to investigate:
(1) What is the history of ancestral practices in Japan? Historically, what do
the Japanese believe and what rituals have been practised concerning life
after death? (Traditional religions, indigenous groups.)
(2) What do contemporary Japanese believe and what rituals are currently
being practised concerning life after death? What do Japanese Christians
believe about life after death.
(3) What do the churches, mission agencies and theological institutions teach
concerning life after death?
(4) What does the Bible teach about life after death?
(5) How would the principles of contemporary contextualisation assist us?
(6) What are the relevant issues to be addressed?
The objective is to attempt to write a contextualised teaching tool, on life
after death, suitable to the Japanese worldview which will help solve an
entrenched missiological problem in the Japanese church.
1.3 Design and Methodology
This study is a conceptual study in Missiology. The general design will
be a literature study with emergent, interactive, interpretive, qualitative
instruments. A study in Missiology, in its essential nature, will include cultural16
anthropological, historical, ethnographic, linguistic and religious studies. The
reasoning will be largely inductive. (Mouton 2001)
(1) A literature study will be done to introduce the subject, give the background
and motivation for the study and also a historical background to scholarship
on the subject.
(2) Secondary data of Japanese church statistics will give background,
illustrating the need for the study. Letters, e-mail and phone will be used to
enquire into what is actually being taught in churches, mission agencies
and theological seminaries. Primary analysis of information will also be
done. The expected paucity of results will further give weight to the
urgency of the need for the study.
(3) Contextualisation: in order to seek to understand how to deal with the
problem of a Japanese contextualised teaching tool on life after death, it
will be useful to hear the current debate and compare views in the West,
from those who have been missionaries and especially from Japanese and
other Asian writers. The next logical step will be to do a literature review
on the background to ancestor practices. Analysis of ideas needs to be
done.
(4) The study will explore the contemporary scene in Japanese religion and
culture to find out what change is happening. (Creswell 2003) Here
analysis of the basic issues involved should appear. There will be some
polemic, complementary and comparative discussion. Content analysis will
produce the essential elements to be contextualised. A literature review is
appropriate because an analysis of trends and the current debate on the
subject is necessary. We are in the midst of rapid change in Japan.
(5) Textual analysis of Scripture will be done: in order to have the basic
guideposts of the faith for a teaching tool on life after death and for
interaction with principles of contextualisation and culture. A dialectical
movement of ideas is foreseen here.
(6) After this the study will comprise of interviews (Mouton 2001) with
Japanese co-operative focus groups and individuals and use newspaper
comments to engage in what insiders are thinking and feeling. This is
suitable action, because as foreign-written this study cannot hope to solve a
17
problem in contextualisation alone. People will be selected with whom
there is an existing good, long-standing relationship to hopefully obviate the
effect of tatemae
建て前
(public face, not real feelings) so as to ensure
accurate information. Questions will be framed in an open way and
comprehensive notes will be taken.
(7) Observation will be done in homes, at funerals, both Christian and
traditional Japanese, and in graveyards. This will ensure accuracy, as
unusual aspects can be noticed and we will take notes. Useful too, in
exploring topics that may be uncomfortable for participants to discuss.
Limitations here could be the perception of intrusiveness, but advantages
will be that we can make personal observations.
Limitations here could be a degree of lack of transparency which is
common and acceptable in the culture. Space to cover such a vast subject will
also be a limitation.
From the literature study and qualitative instruments used, the essential
elements necessary for the contextualised teaching tool will be drawn. A
Japanese contextualised teaching tool on the afterlife can be constructed
1.4 Hypothesis, Assumptions and Limitations
The study will draw heavily on cultural ideas and Japanese religion and
the teaching tool will be less systematic than western theologies. It will deal
more with ritual and group action than beliefs.
This study will probably reveal other related areas that need urgent
attention.
Our assumptions held before further study are:
(1) that speaking to spirits involves prayer and Biblically forbidden necromancy
(2) that burning incense involves worship
(3) deep bowing before a wooden tablet looks like idol worship
The outcome should produce criteria for the desired teaching tool. There
will be areas in which there might not be any answers. The writer is also limited
by being a foreigner and trusts that Japanese will accept these attempts;
provide correction and dialogue further in their scholarship. The writer speaks
Japanese and has lived in close contact with Japanese for 24 years.
18
The next section will give the historical background to our study, giving
the necessary setting and feel for the subject, leading in to contemporary ideas
and practice.
1.5 Historical Background
The vast majority of Japanese say they have no religious belief, while at
census time most respondents tick both boxes for Buddhism and Shinto.
Why? Nagasawa Mikito (2003:353) explained that for the Japanese “a
religion is not identified with affirming specific belief as much as participating
in rituals in traditional festivals and performing religious actions demanded by
certain situations”. I will first give the historical background to the traditional
religions of Japan and describe the ancestral practices that have developed
out of this history.
1.6 Shintoo
The history of Shintoo ancestral rites are hidden in ancient history.
Religious life during the Joomon period, which began 12 000 years ago, can be
followed by clues, such as the pit cave dwellings and earthenware implements.
In the Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions, edited by Swanson and Chilson,
(2006:133) Matsumaru Kazuo, who wrote that villages were built in a circle and
graves were dug inbetween. This rice-growing community, the uji,
氏
(clan) was
grouped around their involvement in agriculture, and their protecting deity, who
was perhaps the actual lineal ascendant head of the uji. This system was
established in the rice-growing Yayoi era (B.C. 3c–A.D. 3). At this early stage
ancestor practices were based mostly on the uji community. Later this was
integrated into the house-lineage system, the ie.
家
(household) (Yoshimoto
Makito1987:84).
Care of the ie dead was linked with worship designed to ensure good
harvests and general fertility. The spirit of the new dead “shirei” needed to be
cleansed and treated appropriately. Otherwise the shirei will not be a calm
ancestral spirit, but nigitama,
二義玉
(a malevolent spirit who wanders and
brings harm to the family and harvests.) Good treatment by the family ensures
19
that the spirit will be the guardian of the family or community. As time
progressed, these spirits became uji-gami.
氏神
The community of the uji,
dead, alive and unborn were linked.
Before the unification of the clans under the Yamato dynasty, in
prehistoric Japan, the ancient Japanese people believed in mysterious spiritual
power. This “tama”
玉
(spirit) is possessed by humans; objects such as trees,
ships, natural objects. According to ethnologist, Origuchi Shinobu, (Yoshimoto
Makito,1987:79) there are two kinds of tama: one benevolent and the other with
malevolent power. Hito dama
人魂
speaks of the human spirit and koto dama
言霊
of the spiritual power of words. Tama supports all life, dwells in humans as
tamashii
魂
(soul) and departs at death (Murata Okinori 1993:1385 ).
After the Yayoi era, Japan was invaded by Altaic and Tunguisic people
from north-east Asia. There was also immigration from southern Asia.
Yoshimoto 1987:86 quotes Hori Ichiroo (1968:5) saying that “These people
”became the ancestors of the imperial family and the accompanying priest
clans” . who were assumed to be shamans, who were mostly of the female
possession type and Hori has proved that these features have continued
through the generations up till modern times.
During the Kofun period (the last half of the 3rd century to around the 7th
century) the kofun
古墳
were the graves built for the powerful, (with chair and
serving table figurines placed in front of the mansion figurine) and these are
thought to have been used for ritual feasts for the dead. Warring uji near the
end of the Kofun era (A.D. 6 – 7) were finally conquered and ruled over by the
Yamato clan, who became the ancestors of the imperial dynasty. This clan
systematized old myths, using Chinese philosophy and Buddhism to create a
national myth for their power system This is the “myth of national foundation,
not cosmological myth” (Yoshimoto,1987:87). This is written in the Kojiki
古事記the Record of Ancient Matters (712) and Nihon Shoki.
日本書紀
(720).
Buddhism and Shinto amalgamated in the 8th and 9th century and rites for
the purpose of pacifying the vengeful spirits were developed in Kyooto. In 863
the government conducted these rituals to pacify the spirits of the Emperor
Suido and 6 others who met tragic untimely deaths in the court’s struggle for
power. (Koyama Koosuke 1984:180) Purification was done against sullying
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elements of kegare
穢れ
(pollution) like disease and death and harae,
払え(pacification) restoration of proper relationship after wrongdoing. Tamashizume
玉沈め
means the pacification’ (shizume) of the spirit. In all these ritual
practices the spirit of the dead will become a spirit of the ancestors after 33 or
49 years and submerge among the ancient gods” (Koyama 1984:16).
FIGURE 1. The classification of impurity.
(from Figure 5: ( Suzuki 2000:28) Source: Data from Shintani.)
Ueda Masaaki also identified mono
もの
(something strange or
awesome) as playing an important role in ancient Japan. (Koyama 1984:146)
“Spirits of all things other than humans are called mono.“ The implication is that
mono is an animistic spiritual substance, uncanny and strange, which can
threaten people. This feeling for the strange and mysterious is very important in
Japanese religion and popular beliefs.
Divine spirits, the “kami”, beings with super-human, supernatural power
evoked a thrill of emotion, awe and mystery and are able to change history.
These kami possess supernatural power. They were the source of
harvests and most of the rites were concerned with fertility. It is not simple to
define kami; broadly defined “as something sacred with a supernatural
IMPURITY
Impurity Danger Power Contagious
pollution
Body
Blood
Fluids
Grime
Nails
Hair
Injury
Illness
Nature
Calamity
Drought
Flood
Famine
Society
Poverty
Violence
Crime
War
Death
21
existence” (Swanson & Chilson 2006:140), and also special natural objects,
especially mountains and trees, animals like foxes and snakes, white deer or
white snakes. In the Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions, Matusmura Kazuo
writes that these categories are not objectively determined but are “determined
by sensory or subjective standards” (Swanson & Chilson 2006:141). Men too,
by reason of their supernatural powers could be kami and these were often the
shaman in the community.
This account of Shintoo has given the history and practices of Shintoo.
Fixed doctrine is lacking, but deeply felt emotion is central to Shintoo. It is seen
that it is a religion of practice. The next religion/philosophy that has had great
influence on ancestral practices is Confucianism.
1.7 Confucianism
Confucianism, is basic to thinking, society, family life and ancestral
practices. Confucianism is said to have come to Japan in the 5th century at the
same time as Buddhism. There are religious aspects, but it is mainly a social,
political, philosophical and ethical teaching. It was important during the 6th – 9th
centuries, also from the Edo period (1600-1868) with the Meiji Restoration and
then in the early Shoowa period (1926-1929).
In China, during the Chou dynasty, the early Chinese worshiped ‘the land
god, their patron god, as well as their ancestors” (Wei Yuan-Kwei wrote in
Christian Alternatives to Ancestor Practices, 1985:121). In the Bamboo
Chronology Wei saw evidence of ancestor worship: “Huang-dih passed away
and his minister Tzuo Cheh took his clothes, headgear, and sceptre and
worshiped them in the temple” (Ro 1985:122). Successive emperors followed
this practice, and men of virtue were honoured and worshiped. Wei Yuan-Kwei
writes that the worship of ancestors of the blood line began in the Hsia Dynasty,
some scholars doubt that it existed, others disagree. The use of the wooden
tablet is recorded to have started inbetween 206 BC and 220 AD. With this
historical background, we turn to Confucius.
K’ung Ch’iu (1027 BC–256 BC) wanted society to return to the
harmonious state he felt it had been at the beginning of the Zhou dynasty in
China. (Koyama 1984:152) Confucius brought the principle of harmony which
underlies all social relationships to Japan. The concept of wa
和
(harmony)and
22
that of Buddhist jihi
慈悲
(mercy) has been on the forefront of Japanese
philosophy ever since. As important to the Japanese as the Ten
Commandments is to the Jew or Christian. (Koyama 1984:156)
Since Confucius believed that good government and society could be
attained by the moral example of officials, he sought the education of state
officials. The source of each individual’s standards of morality lay in filial piety:
respect and obedience to parents. A knowledge of literature and the arts
produced loyalty, uprightness and moderation. Ren, or benevolence, was most
sought after.
Tradition ascribes various texts to him and his disciples also wrote
numbers of his sayings and commentaries on his works. The most important of
which for our study is the Book on Filiality and the Confucian Analects.
Kim Eun Chul wrote that Confucius is said to have encouraged a cult
towards the deceased father or mother with sacrificial offering (Ana 2.5; 10.15)
offerings of food and drink (Ana 3.10), in a shrine or tomb (Ana 10 10.5) for their
remembrance (Anal.9; 4.21) or to consult or to seek favours from them (Ana
11.21 ….5.22) (Kim Eun Chul 2003:2). Elaborating, Chow Lien-Hwa gives the
filial son’s five requirements, as recorded in the Confucian Analects: “When
dead, they (the parents) should be buried according to propriety; and they
should be sacrificed (sic) according to propriety” (Bong 1985:141).
During the Han dynasty Confucius himself became an object of worship
and state sacrifices. At the time a cosmology was developed that saw the
universe as being under the control of Heaven with man, the ruler, as “mediator
between Heaven and the natural order writes Murata Okinori,. (Bong
1985:222). Heaven sent omens, auspicious events and this then developed
into a literature which named taboos and calendrical restrictions. It was actually
against Confucius’ teaching, but has had a profound effect on the Chinese,
Koreans and Japanese.
Confucianism arrived in Japan from China. With the centralisation of the
Japanese state, Confucianism flourished. Minabuchi no Shooan (early 7th
century) and the scholar monk Soomin (d 653) spread Confucianism on their
return from China. Although not fully adopted as a state ritual, Japanese
emperors also accepted moral responsibility for their citizens’ welfare,
23
encouraged Confucian values for their officials and a tradition of ritual propriety
in order to maintain social order.
The most important influence, however, was State-sponsored education.
As in China, a system of provincial and city examinations were instituted to
produce bureaucrats. At the end of the 9th century this system of government
and education started to lose influence because of the growth of the Fujiwara
family’s interests. Buddhism penetrated the universities.
With the long period of peace during the Tokugawa era, there was more
interest in issues of society and government and Confucianism stepped in to
answer these questions. Given official recognition under Iemitsu (r 1623-51)
and more under Tsunayoshi (r 1680-1709), Confucianism fitted in well with this
feudal society: Samurai became bureaucrats and more wealth and leisure
fostered the printing of Confucian literature, leading to the golden age of this
tradition in Japan. The official domain schools, led by Confucian scholars, also
influenced the rise of terakoya – the village commoner education, based in the
temples.
4th-generation leader of the Confucianist Kaitokudoo Merchant
Academy in Osaka, purist, Nakai Chikuzan (1730-1804) spoke
harshly of ‘folk religion’ for a physican, or [telling people to] stop
using medicines, thus leading to their deaths; worshiping Ebisu and
Daikko as a pretext for lust and wickedness, making the shrine
Tenmanguu a medium for lasciviousness, substituting [the
bodhisattva] kannon in place of auguring weal and woe and praying
for healing, divining propitious directions, midwives; and with reckless
talk of badgers and foxes and baseless fictions about tengu
天狗
imputing all kinds of marvellous wonders about insignificant kami and
trivial buddhas; divining dreams of kami and buddhas and
huckstering worthless drug and base concoctions, performing
divinations of mutual compatibility for men and women, divinations of
physiognomy, swords, the geomancy of houses – these kinds of
deviant beliefs [jakyoo’] are rampant, and nothing but techniques to
confound the ignorant masses. (Havens 1997:3)
Confucianism spread into a background of such popular religion. Various
schools of thought emerged during the Edo era, but the most conspicuous was
the final phase, where there was a combination of Confucianism, Shinto and
imperial ideology. The Mito school emphasised obedience to the emperor. The
Meiji Restoration opened the way for western influence, the emperor himself,
heavily influenced by Confucianism mixed with western thought. The Imperial
24
Rescript on Education of 1890 was promulgated. 1937 saw the emperor
presented in the Confucian style, receiving loyalty, filial piety. Since the 2nd
world war there has been a decline in interest in Confucianism.
The philosophy of filial piety and the Analects that have taught sacrifices
to the elders are basic to ancestral practices and form the very basis of
Japanese society.
1.8 Buddhism
Buddhism came to Japan as a philosophy that had already been used to
promote ancestral practices. In the last century there has been disagreement
as to the historical origins of ancestor worship. The latest scholarship, as
shown in 2.1 shows that after Buddhism reached Japan, the ancestor worship
of the uji continued, dressed up as Buddhism. We will show how all these
three, plus Taoism, combined to give the present-day traditional Japanese
religious scene.
Gigaku was performed and Prince Shotoku, the great protector of
Buddhism combined the newly arrived teaching with the art in 612. According to
Nihon Shoki, Buddhism took advantage of the exotic and spectacular
performance to propogate Buddhism.
Prince Shotoku, a devoted Buddhist scholar is said to have written
commentaries on three scriptures. The central emphasis of the Three Sutra
Commentary is the image of the bodhisattva of Mahayana Buddhism who
practices mercy. The bodhisattva empties himself for the salvation of others,
the image of a selfless saviour figure. “The concept of negation came to Japan
with Buddhism, through the person of Prince Shotoku when he said Seken
Koke, Yui Butsu Zeshin, or This World is Illusory. Only the Buddha is Real”
(Koyama 1984:79). Dialectical thinking entered Japan, and with it the ability of
the Japanese to hold seeming paradoxes in their mind quite comfortably and a
dislike for comparisons.
Various Buddhist sects were founded. The following can be compared to
16th century reformers in Europe (Koyama 1984:158) Joodo-Shuu (Hoonen
1133-1212), Joodo-Shin-shuu (Shinran) 1173-1262, Ranzai-Shuu (Yoosai
1141-1215), Zen Sooto-Shuu (Doogen 1200-1253), Nichiren-Shuu (Nichiren
1222-1282).
25
Confucian, Buddhist, Hindu, and Taoist elements were added to
indigenous Japanese beliefs and rites and by the latter half of the 12th century,
were observed throughout the country. Buddhism entered Japan while the clan
government was shifting to imperial government. It put down roots during
another period of reorientation, when the imperial government changed to a
military government.
Various threads of belief ensued. The Joodoo sect founded by Hoonen,
chanted masses for the salvation of the dead and were popular among the
common people. The concept of negation was given a profound expression in
the thought and experience of the Japanese soul. Grace, tariki
他力
(salvation
by someone else’s power). (Koyama 1984:162) Negation has affirmed grace.
Joodo-Shin-Shuu followers saw this as a break away from pure Buddhist
teaching and trusted only in Amida Buttsu’s merciful vow to save all. The
nembutsu
念仏
school (Namu Amida Buttsu “I take my refuge in the Buddha
Amida”), was seen as an easy way and Shinran spent 30 years in exile.
Berentsen, traced the development further, through the Kamakura era
(1185-1333) when, linked to the uji temple, masses for the dead, funeral
services and the Bon festival spread. The bon dancing in summer evolved out
of Nembutsu odori which were popular Buddhist chants and folk dancing of the
late Heian and Kamakura eras. Koyama feels that Kamakura Buddhism “is a
demonstration that the Japanese people, through their own religious thinking
and experience, had digested the unfamiliar contents of the universal religion,
Buddhism” (Koyama 1984:158).
Koyama then quotes Watsuji Tetsuro, (History of Ethical thoughts in
Japan – Nihon Rinri Shiso Shi Vol 1 pp.373f) Japanese scholar of religion,
history and culture (Koyama 1984:159)
This orientation presents Buddhism as The doctrine of Nembutsu
(recitation of the name of Buddha) of Hoonen and Shinran intimates
a faith of absolute trust in mercy which is understood to be the
Absolute. This doctrine has profound similarities with Christianity
which teaches absolute trust in knowledge which begins with the
insight of absolute emptiness. God who is love. The Zen tradition of
Eisai and Dogen is a religion of practical religion of enlightenment.
Nichiren’s Lotus School, with its emphasis on absolute trust in the
sutra and on intentional practice of what the adherents believe, is
more like Islam with its confidence in the Qur’an and submission to
God. Thus in Kamakura Buddhism we discern three types which
reflect the spirit of world religions. That these manifestations arose
26
out of the soil of Japanese Buddhism must be seen as one of its
unusual achievements.”
To the degree that the teaching enabled ancestor worship and funerals
to be popularized, the sect of Buddhism spread. In the Tokugawa era (1603-
1868) Christianity was suppressed and an edict promulgated; 15 rules for
priestly supervision, one of which was that those who didn’t attend the
numerous ancestor rituals and festivals were to be interrogated and reported.
Every household had to register with the local temple and in this way the legal
and compulsory relationship between the household and the Buddhist temple
was initiated: the danka-system.
檀家
(Suzuki 2000:30). Suzuki rightly
commented that the ie is “the elementary structure on which Japanese society
was based.” “The blending of ancestor worship and systematic Buddhist rituals
occurred gradually, as more people chose to have Buddhist priests officiate at
funerals) during this era” (Suzuki 199:179).
Leading into the Meiji era, ancestor practices were written in legal terms
into the Meiji Civil Code, promulgated in 1898. With particular reference to our
study is Article 987: “Ownership of the genealogical record, articles of worship
and tomb is a spiritual right pertaining to the succession of a house.” To an
intensely law-abiding country such a law in its history is of great importance.
In 1940 the Religious Organisations law (shuukyoo dantai hoo) was
introduced and non-conformist organizations were severely persecuted.
The New Civil Code of 1948
provides, in most respects, for a very different kind of family
structure. The household is no longer a legal entity and its head is
stripped of its powers. [L]egally Japan turned away from the old iestructure
to that of the Western nuclear family. To be noted is that
the genealogical records, rite utensils, tombs and burial grounds are
inherited by the person who is the “president” in the worship of the
memory of the ancestors (Berentsen1985:18).
Koyama says that over time, the three great traditions of Confucianism,
Buddhism and Christianity have been synthesized and become to various
degrees, part of Japan. Buddhism entered Japan, was eagerly accepted as a
vehicle for the incipient ancestor worship and continues to this day as funeral
Buddhism.
27
1.9 Ancestral Rites
A Buddhist proverb: Shindareba, koso ikitare, meaning, ”Only by reason
of having died does one enter into life.“ (Japanese Buddhist proverbs, 16).
Japanese take part in ancestral rites for this purpose. In doing these rites,
pollution is cleansed; and there is a means to deal with pollution, danger and
the deceased can move forwards towards Nirvana.
FIGURE 2. Van Genneps’ rites of passage.
Source: Data from Edmund
(From Figure 4, Suzuki a 2000:17)
How are the ancestor practices carried out today? Suzuki tells of her
experience during research at the Moon Rise Company: first of all final water is
place on the lips of the deceased, the body is washed, beautified. A small
sword or its replica is placed on top of the body to avoid evil.spirits. Sutras are
read at the house, the body is ceremoniously placed in the coffin with loved
items. (One man took his croquet mallet with him.) (Suzuki 2003:41)
The wake is held the night before the funeral and cash as an incense
offering is given by visitors. Sutras are recited by the priest and mourners offer
incense, one by one. Posthumous ordination is also attained and the deceased
is ordained a Buddhist monk. Speeches are made in memory of the deceased
and all share a meal together afterwards.
Rites of
separation
Rites of
incorporation
Transitional
rites
Time Flow
Initial Transitional Stage Final
Normal condition Liminal period Normal condition
28
The next day the funeral takes places. Sutras are read, maybe a brief
sermon is given by the priest, and in the Zen school, (Zen-shuu) the sermon is
preached to the deceased to help him or her attain enlightenment. Eulogies are
given, incense is burnt by the priest and mourners and offered to the body and
the spirit. At the next stage of the funeral, the kokubetsu shiki
告別式
is held,
where those that are not close family, will burn incense. Flowers may be placed
in the coffin and it is then closed. The chief mourner makes a speech, thanking
all the guests, while the family stands near holding the deceased’s photograph,
and the ihai
位牌
(mortuary tablet) and maybe food offerings. After the funeral,
salt is used to purify. And the priest once more chants sutras at the house.
(Kenny & Gilday 2000:169-173)
The cremation takes place at a distant crematorium. “Death” is timed
from the time that the switch is pressed. Here again an altar is set up, incense
burnt. The body is moved into the oven while mourners have a meal. Picking
up the bones is done by close relatives and placed into an urn, then into a box
with a silk covering. The bones will remain at the house on a temporary altar for
49 days. One mortuary table is prepared for the temple and one for the house.
With this the deceased, called hotoke
仏
(Buddha) is integrated into the realm of
departed spirits. All men become buddhas just by dying. Joobutsu (movement
upward and spiritual change) is identified with the supernatural condition of the
spirits in the indigenous worldview
Rowe (2000:371) quotes Fujii (1988:115) that the change from flesh into
white bones at the crematorium signals the attainment of buddhahood. So
clearly when the change is effected is not generally agreed upon. Rowe feels
that the changes at the crematorium, particularly in the rite of placing the bones
into the urn - a really powerful moment - also shows there has been a shift from
the religious to the scientific or medical sphere.
A long period of memorial rites to enable the spirit to progress begins:
After the first week the posthumous name kaimyoo
戒名
is handed over to the
family. Further rites take place: once every week, for 7 weeks, then after 100
days, l year, two years and then at 6, 12, 17, 22, 26, 32, 48 and 100 years. This
varies depending on the Buddhist sect and the area. These memorial rites,
hooji,
法事
are attended by family, friends and acquaintances. These are
29
stopped at the 50th year when the spirit reaches maturity and enters Nirvana.
The process of the spirit maturing towards Nirvana depends on the living.
Internment of the ashes takes place 49 days after death. Pollution is
strongest at this time. The urn is taken to the grave and placed inside the
tombstone. Here again a priest will recite sutras. Family members will visit the
grave at the two equinoxes, higan “the other shore or Pure Land” at Obon and
at New Year. The grave is cleaned, tidied and food, flowers and incense
offerings are given and the family talks to the dead.
Other rites are grave visits at the two equinoxes when the graves are
cleaned, incense burnt and prayer offered. Bon
盆
is the main ancestor annual
festival when the spirits of the dead are guided by fire into the house, convivial
meals are eaten in front of the house altar and they are then sent off again.
Grave visiting also occurs. Obon dancing in public places consoles and pacifies
the spirits.
Buddhism has a highly developed philosophical structure and scholastic
tradition; however, this is entirely irrelevant to most Japanese. It may sound
strange, but many Japanese participate in temple worship and depend on the
temple for funeral rites, but do not even know to which Buddhist sect their
temple belongs. It is just ‘their temple’; that cares for the consolation and peace
of the dead; here they ‘send’ the spirits of their dead relatives and there the
priest will conduct his daily worship, reading sutras morning and evening.
30
2 CONTEMPORARY BELIEFS & PRACTICES
CHAPTER 2
CONTEMPORARY BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
The study of Shintoo, Confucianism and Buddhism gives insight into the
development of contemporary beliefs and practices. A long history of ancestor
practices is today developing in different directions. Chapter 2 gives insight into
the New Religions, contemporary beliefs, popular culture and practices and a
focus group shows how attitudes and practices have changed within the last
decade.
2.1 The New Religions
The so-called “New Religions’, Shin Shuukyoo, are based on religious and
magical practices: shamanism, purification rites, exorcism and ancestor
worship – revitalization movements which incorporate Shinto, Buddhism and
Western philosophy and Christianity. (Davis 1992:247) The New Religions
developed apart from the organised religions and became new socio-religious
organizations. These organizations have been extensively studied in general,
but virtually no investigation of the manner in which the ancestors are viewed.
They emphasize ancestral practices.
There are hundreds of these groups, and statistics are highly
speculative, although there are a few with millions of members.
(Swanson & Chillson 2006:97) They have sent out missionaries to
Europe, Asia and America. The reason for their success: because
they communicated their message at the worldview level of the
Japanese masses. Omotokyoo demonstrates the power of the spirit
through supernatural means such as healing and foretelling.
Through these supernatural demonstrations of power, the masses
were convinced that Omotokyoo was really in touch with the reality of
the spirit world. (Beck: Hayama 1983:47).
The first identifiable group was Nyooraikyoo (1812), then Kurozukomyoo
(1814) and then Tenrikyoo (1939). Risshoo Kooseikai and Sooka Gakkai,
Nichiren offshoots, grew quickly post-war.
31
The New Religions usually emphasize this-worldly values, the acquiring of
health and prosperity, “self-improvement and happiness through faith or through
magical practices. Some were founded by individuals, usually women,
possessed by deities.” “The membership is in the tens of millions”
(Reischauer1995:214). Hori said that most of the new Religions’ founders were
very shamanistic and that the thought is that such leaders inherited the tradition
of hito-gami (man-god) in ancient religions. (Yoshimoto 1987:109)
Most of the groups can trace their origins to Reiyuukai, which originated in
Taiso (1912-1926). Reiyuukai, Risshoo Kooseikai and Myoochikai will be
described as representative of most of the New Religions. How do the groups
present the ancestral concept to their members?
T he founder of Reiyuukai, Kubo, followed Nishida, who emphasized
ancestral worship. He saw funerary rites for all spirits being a means of ridding
oneself of bad karma. Recognizing that the family is established by both
husband and wife, both sides of the family ancestors are enshrined and also
muen-botoke
無縁仏
(wandering spirits). A general posthumous name
sookaimyoo is given to all the ancestors of the family.
In addition lay kaimyoo (hoomyoo) are given to family members, so that
they all have personal names in the spirit world. “The spirit world and visible
world are two sides of a mirror” as in Myoochikai writes Koomoto.
The register of family dead is important and friends may be added. The
Buddhist names collected here and masses offered to the ancestors allow them
to achieve buddhahood and the devotee accumulates merit. So it is clear that
ancestor revering and thankful service is important. The atmosphere of the
home is promised to change to happiness.
Illnesses are caused by karma and doing the rites will help. Meritmaking
is done for the ancestors, twice-daily domestic religious practices, family
behavioral norms and religious group-member norms are stipulated. Filial piety:
knowing the depth of the parents’ love, offering them delicacies and pleasant
memories and further adopting the correct religious faith is necessary to wipe
out the parents’ evil karma and prevent their suffering.
32
Leading others to the group will bring ancestors to buddhahood and the
sick in this world will also get better. “Leading” others is linked to ancestral rites
and one’s own personality.
The safety and prosperity of the ie is involved in the rites, social order is
maintained and tatari
祟り
(cursing) is prevented. The theme of vindictive
spirits onryoo,
厭離王
, (unrelated souls) muenbotoke
無縁仏
(hungry ghosts) gaki
botoke
餓鬼道
and unnatural deaths caused followers to sometimes build a
shrine to hungry ghosts in order to contain their spiritual power, placating them
and dispelling their curse. The curse is the lives of suffering we live, due to the
suffering of the ancestors who are continuing individual personalities and are
unable to achieve buddhahood. Temporal suffering is explained by this.
Curses may come from recent or ancestors several generations back.
Later a greater accent on the benevolence of ancestors was noted by
Morioka who said that descendants have their loving mothers and fathers
standing guard over them. This was like being under the benevolence and
protection of the emperor and his heavenly ancestor.
In current New Religions we see a selective use of the Bible being made.
A Nagoya-based messianic movement, Tookookyo, “draws on Buddhist and
Christian traditions” writes Mullins, the authority on indigenous movements
(Swanson & Chillson 2007:125). Its sacred text La Vocode Sfinkso (The Voice
of the Sphinx) is saturated with themes and ideas mostly from Genesis and
Revelation.
The largest group is Sooka Gakkai (the Value Creating Association)
which is a branch of Nichiren Buddhism. This group founded the political party,
Koomeitoo and is very influential in the coalition government now as New
Koomeitoo. It also has schools and a university. They use forms of worship
which require little intellectual effort to understand, such as the repeated
chanting of the phrase, ‘Glory be to the Lotus of the Supreme Law’ Namu
Myoohoo Renge Kyoo. (Lewis 1993:286) Rapid growth is attributed to the use
of small groups, zadankai
座談会
notorious group is that of Asahara Shookoo, founder of Aum Shinrikyo.
This group features violence with Buddhist teachings, trance messages from
Jesus Christ and an apocalyptic vision characterizes the movement. The
33
notoriety of Aum Shinrikyoo is one of the reasons that people find religion
distasteful.
Departures from original teachings are indicative of dissatisfaction with
the status quo and also of those features that are enduring and strong in the
minds of the populace. Next, insight is given into contemporary ancestor
practices as seen close up during 6 months of research in a funeral company by
Suzuki.
2.2 Changes in Death Practices
Changes in death practices have been noted and point to trends in
society that are quite far removed from the practices described in Chapter 1.
When Suzuki worked in a funeral company during research, she realized
that the deceased were no longer looked upon as polluted corpses. Her emic
study provides new insights. The president of the company had discarded most
of the religious aspects that “treated the deceased as physically and spiritually
impure or dangerous” (Suzuki 2001:189). The bathing ceremony was only
performed during the day; the staff do not wear headbands to hold off evil
spirits; no water is thrown under the house or onto the fields, no rice wine is
drunk to purify during or before the ceremony and the family are not told to
bathe after the ceremony.
Corpse purifying has turned into a bath and sometimes a very luxurious,
relaxing, well-perfumed bath is provided. Values such as refreshment for the
deceased, sympathy for the deceased, resolution of past grudges and conflicts
and the generosity and benevolence of the living were emphasized instead.
(Suzuki 2001, Clark 1992)
Moon Rise Funeral Hall makes contact with future customers by holding
events at the funeral hall – it is a place to visit. Parties, seminars and
exhibitions are held. In the mid 1980’s a bon-odori was inaugurated: a summer
dance party, food stands offering popcorn, cotton candy, beer and fast foods.
The next day there were exhibitions and seminars about death, funerals and a
Buddhist memorial service. In the afternoon a film celebrity gave his or her
opinions about life and death. The dread of funerals is fading and this is being
aided by commercial motives.
34
2.2.1 Living Funeral
Some are opting for a living funeral, which is conducted by the living
person, while still healthy. People want to participate before they are ill and
bedridden. The singer, Mizunoe Takiko was the first to do this with wide media
coverage. “’I wanted to express my appreciation to all those who have been
dear to me while I am still alive.’” Here Suzuki quotes from Ei. (Suzuki
2003:66:)
Japanese and Tibetan Buddhist sutras, Koran prayers, Chopin’s
Funeral Procession, Christmas carols and Mozart’s Requiem.
Finally, with “Santa Claus is coming to town”, the audience started to
clap and a happy party ensued. Other bizarre and interesting,
champagne filled funerals are recorded.
Kosugi told of a university president’s non-religious funeral, which
opened with the university symphony orchestra playing, a slide show giving the
deceased’s personal history given by a professional narrator, a film of his later
life, a chorus sung, a Bach aria; a large photograph was projected onto the
screen and flowers were presented instead of incense burning. “Throughout
the evening, participants’ feeling towards the deceased enveloped the
ceremony” (Suzuki 2003:68).
Customers are willing to pay for ‘meaningfulness’. Sometimes a formal
funeral is held and then later at a hotel the “freedom funeral” is held at a hotel;
a boxed altar is used where the bereaved can display items. A deceased golfplayer’s
golf clubs decorated the altar, another fisherman’s fishing rod, reel and
net were displayed at the hall entrance, a well-known piano player’s funeral was
decorated with a grand piano, placed in the front, used as a funeral altar.
Clearly the meaning of funerals is changing. “Thus the living funerals are
intended to assert one’s own importance as an individual in a context where the
value of the deceased as ancestors has declined” (Suzuki 2003:67).
Some thought providing a funeral for one’s parents is still considered a
duty, descendants have come to see it not as an obligation to household
ancestors as such, but as returning a favour to their parents. So gratitude,
obligation dominates. With longevity, there is very little money left to be grateful
for, so even that might disappear. An erosion of earlier practices is seen, but
traditional religious ideas are appearing in new forms.
35
Poet, Matsunaga Goichi praises the non-religious funeral of writer
Nakano Shigeharu: “There was no chanting of the sutras, but it was one of the
rare funerals in which I was moved beyond expression” (Suzuki 1998:177).
A non-religious funeral undermines the fundamental belief system
revolving around the production of household ancestors. A nonreligious
funeral also devalues the role of Buddhist priests in the
transitional process of the spirits and denies the existence of
malevolent spirits (Suzuki a, 180).
Some shrines and temples have internet websites and invite devotees to
buy charms and receive prayers. Temples encourage people to “visit” the
temple and receive prayers for the dead. We are in the process of rapid change
and change that will affect the Christian church, especially if they rise to meet
the challenges.
In a personal email, Prof Suzuki confirms that the changes are not only in
the big cities, but in rural areas, which is a surprise to hear. The comment is
necessary that Suzuki has lived most of her life outside of Japan and maybe
does not realize that bringing the bodies home would mean more rituals,
negating what she is saying about rural areas also having large changes.
I and rural areas as well. Because it is the same company, they offer
the same services. The only differences I can think of right now is
that in the rural areas (1) there are more families who want to have
their funerals at their home instead of at the funeral halls, (2) more
families want their deceased carried back to their home even if they
decide to have a funeral at the funeral hall, (3) there are more
neighboring people who come to help (offerings and staying with the
family and so forth) (4) rural areas tend to imply more elderly, and so
their funerals are smaller because (a) most of their friends are
deceased and (b) children are older and are often retired so they
don't have to invite their bosses and colleagues as well. Dec. 2006
A change in death pollution ideas, funeral options, has led to changes in
beliefs about the bones too.
2.2.2 Ash Scattering (Shizensoo)
Midori Kotani, a researcher at the Life Design Institute, a Tokyo thinktank
tells of ash-scattering. The incidence of ash scattering is increasing; it
being the most non-religious form of disposing of relative’s remains. Some go
36
to picturesque cliff sites after the funeral. One wife took her husband’s ashes to
his favourite overseas spots, another to places he hadn’t travelled to yet. Ashes
have been used to make pendants to make reminders of the loved one.
Scattering ashes are not only a memory of the deceased, it also continues to
create and provide occasions to share memories with the deceased. (Suzuki
2003:69)
“the act of scattering implies disposing of the bones and eliminating the
graves that were the focal point for ancestor veneration: “By the very act of
dispersing the bones, the continuation of household ancestors is rendered
impossible” Suzuki 1998:183).
Shizensoo also goes contrary to the commoditization of death and the
huge cost of a funeral, usually an average of over $20 000. Shizensoo costs
about $1 000 according to the Asahi Shinbun 1997. (Formanek and LaFleur
2004:425) The majority are held at sea, the rest in the mountains, in the sky, in
a river and in the garden of the deceased’s home. Tokyo City has changed a
development plan near a source of water supply in a remote wooded area into a
development of a natural park for shizensoo. The term shizensoo, rather than
sankotsu
散骨
(ash scattering) is used, indicating this allows the dead to be part
of nature again. The first proposal for shizensoo used this slogan: “Leave
nature to our descendants instead of graves” (Formanek and LaFleur,
2004:433).
2.2.3 Eternally-worshipped graves (Eitai kuyoobo)
These graves are not a family affair, but bought by individuals. Some
bones are buried alone, some with unrelated people. Those with no
descendants, those who do not wish to be buried with their mothers-in-law or
their husbands, or homosexual or heterosexual couples who were not allowed
to be married in life, rely on private companies, temples and other religious or
non-religious organisations to assume the maintenance and worship of the
dead to be carried out. This shows that the grave is now maybe the individual’s
eternal resting place and not an ie symbol.
37
Many Japanese companies are building collective graves for deceased
employees. Regular meetings held by participants creates community, and also
provides psychological comfort in following the tradition. To respond to the
anxiety of not having a grave or a caretaker of their after-life, half-page
advertisements for eitai kuyoobo
永代供養
are placed in national newspapers
and many how-to books are published. A comic movie was even made
showing the frenzied search for a grave by an single, aging actress: “There is
No Grave for Me!”
The love for the exotic is combining with age-old traditions in surprising
ways.
2.2.4 Death practices for aborted babies (Mizuko kuyoo)
Abortion and culled babies has always been a feature of life, but with the
legalisation of abortion in 1948, numbers increased to a high of 30% in the
1970’s. Mizuko kuyoo
水子供養
became a boom then and continues. Within 20
years it has appeared in most Japanese religious institutions, with Buddhist,
Shugendoo, Shinto, new religions and prayer healer forms.
As before it involves Jizoo
地蔵尊
statues, but now there is wide-scale
commercialisation, because of an intense marketing campaign involving mass
media and religious entrepreneurs. Media promoting the “occult boom” has
changed the idea of a benevolent baby into a malevolent character.
“Sensational articles in tabloids and magazines for young unmarried women
illustrate mizuko tatari or retribution and preached the importance of performing
mizuko kuyoo to show repentance for killing the foetus and to avert mizuko’s
vengeance” (Formanek and LaFleur 2004:426).
Before the abortion was an ie interest, but now is typically viewed as a
consequence of the individual’s irresponsible behaviour and as a woman’s
personal choice for contraception. The foetocentric rhetoric behind the
malevolent foetus seems to suggest its independent existence and rights,
separate from its mother. Non-community-based, most clients today want to
receive a solution to their own feelings of guilt, fear and ambivalence in a one
time-only cash transaction.
38
Another change shows a collective orientation in that the family as the
basic social unit is involved: Tatari falls more frequently on the siblings and
their children, than on the parents. Karma here does not transfer to the
individual, but to someone else. Men also are taking part as head of the family.
One abbot at a prestigious Buddhist temple “denying the efficacy of mizuko-
Jizoo as not anchored in Buddhist texts, maintains mizuko needs a material
form in order to receive any benefit and preaches the importance of giving it an
ihai (a spirit tablet) with kaimyoo (a posthumous name)” (Formanek and
LaFleur 2004:430).
Tsuji notes that although there is this shift from collectivity to individuality
that it is not occurring in a linear, progressive fashion and that the two are not
necessarily in opposition.
2.3 Popular Culture
Trends always need watching and the trends of 1995 are now popular
culture for a large number of urban dwellers. Urban dwellers are then followed
by rural dwellers to some extent. Manga, animation and films and focus groups
are a window to popular thinking.
2.3.1 Manga / cartoons
The artist Hokusai (1760-1849) coined the term manga’ “man” ( in spite
of oneself, whimsical or lax) and “ga”, picture. The first examples of this art are
found in the Shosooin in Nara. Comic pictures were often done on picture
scrolls by Buddhist monks satirizing themselves, then in the early 17th century
as woodblocks became popular, Hokusai used the genre for representing the
age’s pleasures, clothes, places to visit. Books of cartoons developed over the
centuries and these days many read manga - children from 18 months old to
senior citizens.
In animation adult themes are used, life and death and the fear of death.
(Craig 2000:126) The immanence of the supernatural within the normal and
familiar is a popular theme. Tezuka, a popular writer used nature to express
existential longings, giving nature sad, dark and violent expressions of people’s
emotions.
39
Material that “normally only can be found in The X Files or Unsolved
Mysteries in the US routinely winds up in mainstream Japanese comics” (Izawa
Eri 1996, 1997, 2001:1). Among the themes are a preoccupation with those
that have recently died, banishing demons, and muenbotoke. Heaven and
Buddhist hell is often mixed. A typical plot is that of a human who needs to
protect the human world from those from the demon world. The souls of those
who die often end up Someplace Else that is neither the demon world nor the
human world. (Izawa Eri, 5) Good and evil in characters are often switched,
evil and psychic powers are glamorised and often the good wins. “It would be
folly to use manga and anime (animation) as guidebooks to the supernatural,
but for many people, it’s the main source of information” (Izawa, 6). Miyazaki,
famous animation writer, expresses the underlying belief of the continuity
between humanity and nature. This concept is encapsulated in the word
nagare,
流れ
meaning to flow.
Manga seem to have found a significant half-way position between print
and television in mass communication. (Koodansha Encyclopaedia 1993: 918)
2.3.2 Films
Two vastly popular cinematic events are an interesting indication of
popular belief - resurrection without God and a choice of how you are judged.
In 2003 “Yomigaeri”,
蘇り
(Resurrection), a film about strange sightings of
already dead people who live again in a mountain village; and “Skyhigh” a TV
series. There individuals can determine their life after death as they reflect on
their lives just before they die. At the Begrudgement Gate each person is a
victim of some kind – either murdered or killed in a drunk driving traffic accident.
They are offered three paths to the afterlife. They can accept or refuse their
destiny or return to earth once more to curse and kill a living human.
Christian and Buddhist terms “rebirth” and “tengoku’
天国
the Christian
word for heaven, is used introducing heaven and a kind of purgatory at the
Gate. This promotes the idea “that one’s sense of the spiritual and the afterlife
can be just about anything you want it to be” (Fujino 2005:6). A bulletin board
posting service gives opinions that some have found meaning or purpose in
their lives.
40
Three key themes stand out: relationships, revenge and restitution.
Relationships stretch beyond life as in the scene where the elderly
gentlemen whose pre-school grandchildren and himself were killed in
a traffic accident for the purpose of cursing the girls’ parents, so that
they may all be together, even in hell.
In both films, the dead do not know they have died and the assumption is
“that the afterlife is so like this life that one cannot tell the difference” (Fujino
2005: 29).
The second choice after death is revenge, which is a strong feeling
amongst Christian and non-Christians. Apologies and restitution form a big part
in the films: the man comes back to life and it is the first word he utters, the
bullied boy apologizes for dying on them. Someone’s untimely death still leaves
a sense of indebtedness on his part. Respondents to the shows; BBS on the
Internet, asked whether they would accept or refuse their destiny or return to
earth once more to curse and kill a living human - most choose revenge.
Japanese may tolerate and encourage “deviant” thinking in their popular
culture because they are not able to change very much in the conservative
culture. Manga and films cannot be censored at the time of writing. (Manga
were banned pre-war and during the war.)
The following experiment is indicative of traditional beliefs that have been
eroded, but that show a surprising tendency to hold ideas that are religious,
while strongly denying being “religious.”
2.3.3 Japanese Students’ Images of the Soul
Yamada Yooko and Katoo Yoshinobu’s experiment with Japanese and
French students is described in “Practising the Afterlife: Perspectives from
Japan”. In 1995, 327 Japanese students (96 males, 231 females) participated in
this study. They were students at a university in the Tokyo metropolitan area,
and 2 in Nagoya – French students from Paris also participated and were
compared. On the basis of their drawings, a model was constructed to show:
(l) the relationship of the form of the soul to that of the human being’s body, and
(2) the relationship of the type of the soul’s transformation to its location
between this world and the other world.
41
Summarising: The Japanese students were more likely to depict the
soul as moving back and forth between two worlds, whereas French
students tended to depict the soul as moving only in the direction of
the other world. In addition, Japanese students were more likely to
produce images of rebirth. French images of the soul tended to
depict eternal lives of immortal souls with the same everlasting
identity in a constant world, whereas Japanese images seemed to be
continuously changing from death to rebirth and from birth to death in
different individuals and in successively different generations. This
has been shown to be consistent with the form of the soul in the
drawings: whereas French students’ depictions tended to fall into the
dichotomy Human For/Air Form, Japanese students much more
frequently drew Fireball Forms which are characterized by a
transitional quality and might be considered to be metaphoric roots of
life that do not have human body or individual identity, but still keep
something continuing after death.
These, however are only characteristic tends; wide variation was
found within both the Japanese and the French sample, and despite
differences in the overall trends, students of both countries made
quite similar drawings despite their different cultural backgrounds.
The preference of the Japanese students for representing rebirth of
the soul might in part be rooted in the Japanese religious traditions
which accommodates various notions of communication with the
deceased person’s soul and of rebirth, and might partly be reinforced
by current trends in Japanese society, such as the emphasis put on
similar notions both by contemporary manga comics or renowned
academic writers such as Umehara Takeshi (1996). However,
important departures from this tradition were also to be observed:
Japanese youth no longer share a clear-cut belief in reincarnation
nor in a strong interconnection between the living and their dead
ancestors. However, what still seems to be important to Japanese
youth is to feel themselves associated with a cycle of life including
former and future generations. These feelings are based on a sense
of being loosely linked to others, of being part of a larger cycle of Life
from generation to generation, an ongoing project (Formanek and
LaFleur 2004: 455-456).
This is very informative, especially when considered with the following
findings.
2.4 Focus Groups
2.4.1 First group:
27th December 2007: A meeting was held with 5 Japanese friends from
an interpreters’ group, living in an urban area, Ichikawa, just outside Tokyo.
42
There has been a relationship with some of these ladies for nearly 12 years.
Ages varied, one in her early thirties and the rest over 50, into their early sixties.
They came to the house, spoke in English, as an English speaking opportunity.
Whenever any words that meant “worship” or “respect” or other salient terms
that needed clarification were used, they were asked for the Japanese word
they meant. 2 out of 5 had lived in foreign countries. We talked for two hours.
2.4.2 Second Group:
This focus group interview was conducted in Japanese with a close-knit
group of volunteer Japanese language teachers. They were relaxed, except for
one man who spoke little, but whose attitude showed he despised religious
money makers and seemed generally skeptical and one who was pushing his
exclusively Shintoo background.
2.4.3 Third Group:
These 5 ladies are an English language group, they have a long-standing
relationship and are slightly upper-middle class.
Questions and verbatim reports are to be found in the Appendix.I
From the responses one can see that the 3 ideas that come to the fore
are: oboeru,
覚える
(remembrance) kansha
感謝
for health (gratitude) and
respect.
A large change is seen to have taken place from traditional ancestor
worship in past generations, to the views and customs of present city-dwellers.
These changes are of importance for the church. Trends should be noted and
the necessary theologising done. Obviously reductionist views of the issue will
cause the church to miss where the people are and adjusting for mission and
discipling.
This leads us to the themes that have emerged from study. What are
these themes? How should we react to them? How do we use this knowledge
for contextualising? What are the key questions that need to be clarified before
43
we can proceed to an examination of the teaching and practices of the Christian
church in Japan? Necromancy, prayer, and idol worship will be examined too.
44
3 EMERGENT THEMES AND KEY QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 3
EMERGENT THEMES AND KEY QUESTIONS
After reviewing the involved cultural background of ancestor practices
and then proceeding to contemporary beliefs and practices the study is able in
Chapter 3 to identify and clarify the key themes needed to be contextualised.
Focus is laid on contemporary opinions and ideas, shifts in terminology and the
change in the nexus around which society is structured.
3.1 Emergent Themes
Any approach to culture must be able to address the problem of
social change. Many approaches to the study of culture have been
criticized because they can account for stable situations, but find
themselves unable to deal with the dynamics of change. Social
change is often the reason why local theologies need developing in
the first place. Received notions of what it means to be a Christian,
accepted models of Christian behaviour, formulations about the
relation of the Christian to God may all be called into question by the
emergence of new circumstances or by awareness of social
relationships not previously understood (Schreiter 1996: 44).
The last decade alone has produced changes in attitude and practices to
ancestor practices, as is clear when reading Smith (1974), Berentsen (1985).
There is no doubt that attitudes are very different in rural areas, but the majority
of the population live in cities. In reviewing the New Religions, popular culture
and urban attitudes, the following themes emerge.
3.1.1 The ie / household / family
Yanagita Kunio, the pre-war nativistic scholar, wrote that Japanese find it
difficult to see themselves as Japanese without the ie. Further, Chie Nakane
felt that the core of the Japanese family has always been that between parent
and child, not the relationship between husband and wife. Clearly the nexus
45
has changed. Although attitudes have changed, gravesites, funerals and other
death-related subjects are still seen as family matters in Japan. The gravesite
is the symbol of the family. Japan is in a state where the matter of the gravesite
is the only aspect of the family system that has not changed along with the
progress of the trend toward a nuclear family society
Putting together these comments, Suzuki’s findings about the ie, and
focus group urban dwellers, saying that they think about the ie only at weddings
and funerals, one can say that the concept and functions of the ie, while still
existing, has weakened. Nevertheless, it is still an issue that the church should
include in its theologising.
3.1.2 Interdependence of the Living and the Dead
The interdependence of the ie, has been written about at length;
conflating with animist views of the inter-connected of the universe – families
and nature. “The concept that all life shares a singe world without drawing lines
between man and the supernatural or man and the natural world is one of the
most fundamental of those concepts” (Mayer 1974:101). It is precisely this
fuzziness between the living and the dead that makes for difficulty for the
western mind to unravel questions in ancestor practices.
Paul de Nuei in “Sharing Jesus in the Buddhist World”, suggested that
we need to recognize that the major barriers to Christ are social not religious.
Chua argues too that the reason for the enduring nature of ancestor practices is
the social nature, not the religious aspects – which used to be very strongly held
throughout Japan. The dead and the living depend on each other.
3.1.2.1 Dependence of the Dead on the Living
There is still interdependence in some ways, but the urban dweller’s
puzzled response to the question: “How do you help your ancestors?”
illustrates the fact that the overwhelming obligation to help the ancestors gain
nirvana is not uppermost in their minds anymore. There is a sense of obligation,
but it is nominal custom which does not seem to be of existential importance
anymore.
46
3.1.2.2 Dependence of the Living on the Dead
Here it is obvious that there is still a sense of dependence on the dead,
but mainly for psychological comfort. The comfort seems to be found in
knowing that the customs have been observed satisfactorily. Receiving health
and protection is important.
3.1.3 Gratitude
So gratitude is expressed for the gift of life, health, protection and for
inheritance received – land and houses, as well as wealth. Gratitude for one’s
existence is a Japanese virtue.
3.1.4 Memorialism
Chua (2005) observes that to be forgotten is to be condemned to
torment. Even in 1974, when Smith was writing, he had noticed an increase in
the importance of memorialism and Morioka in 1999 that the ie obligations are
being replaced, partly by personal and psychological functions, seeking comfort
and inner peace through affectionately remembering the dead.
In Africa the importance of preserving the ancestral memory by the living
community. is seen.
In ancient times, Morioka (1999) Japanese referred to their ancestors as
kokoro no yoridokoro, “the place where one’s heart finds refuge and comfort” -
much the same feelings are evoked today” (Chua 2005b:19). Maybe
missionaries have missed the importance of the emotionally comforting role of
the traditional memorial rites, the natsukashii
懐かしい
(longing) a sociallysanctioned
means to find comfort that takes place as the years go by - and
Lewis noted that in their quest for doctrinal correctness, missionaries have
overlooked this issue.
Suzuki described current developments showing emphasis on the
memorial addresses, the introduction of a farewell video of the deceased.
(2003) “The more intimate, sympathetic and heart-warming the message
addressed to the deceased, the more meaningful a funeral will be” (Suzuki
2003:58). She wrote as early as 1998, concluding that there is a decline of
47
ancestor worship on the one hand, and the growing desire in Japan to be
remembered as a unique, individual person upon one’s death” (Suzuki
1998:173).
3.1.5 Fear
The idea of tatari, cursing with misfortune, has been kept alive by the
influential media and the elderly. Even Christians give pause – showing
subliminal fear arising - when the word is mentioned. The idea is ingrained
through numerous children’s stories too, that it is still a feature in the thought
world of the urban Japanese.
Suzuki found that the funeral company offered a refreshing, perfumed
bath; the deceased is treated as being alive till the crematorium switch is
pressed and because night vigils with the body are no longer done, and so
deduced that the idea of the deceased being a haunting spirit is no longer so
strong. She found that those at the funeral expressed fear and uncertainty
rather about what happens after death.
3.1.6 Ethics
Motivation by heavy fear used to be joined to Confucian thought.
Ancestor practices are now seen as a virtue. In history, government decrees
made it a practice which every good citizen observed. Even in a society where
situation ethics rules, ancestor practices are still an enduring virtue.
3.1.7 Identity
Another reason for observing ancestor practices is simply “because I am
a Japanese, it is part of our customs.” A parallel situation exists in Thailand.
The church has not unravelled these two issues and clarified its position.
Issues of Japanese Christian identity are becoming more urgent with the
introduction of the Fundamental law of Education 2006 and the rise of right-wing
nationalism in various forms. The reality of being in Christ, with citizenship in
heaven is going to become more important in discipleship
48
3.1.8 Respect/Honour
The last is probably the theme that needs the closest attention as the
focus group respondents (Chapter 2) emphasized respect, rather than worship.
The concept of respect, which in the west would be termed honour, was the
main impression of the interviewer.
From the above it is clear that identity, ethics, fear, the ie, respect,
gratitude, psychological dependence and memorialism are issues that need to
be addressed in a contextualised teaching tool in the local church in Japan.
3.2 Key Questions:
3.2.1 Are Scripturally Forbidden Issues Involved?
In seeking to contextualise these identified themes of importance, are
there Scripturally forbidden issues involved? The following key issues need to
be clarified.
3.2.2 Necromancy
Here two activities need attention: firstly, talking to ancestors has often
been labelled necromancy by missionaries. It is undoubtedly communication,
but it would seem that according to the definition given by the Concise Oxford
Dictionary (1982), “the art of predicting by means of communication with the
dead; witchcraft”; that “reporting” to the ancestor (usually parents or
grandparents) is not by definition, necromancy. “Obaachan, I passed the
exam.” “Mom, I got promoted.” “I love you.”
The second activity would be consulting spiritualist shamanesses
kuchiyose miko or kuchiyose
寄せ
of which there are 3 types, the kami kuchi, iki
kuchi, shi kuchi. The latter is relevant here. This medium can be called upon at
a funeral or at a festival like Obon. The purpose would be to know the will and
unfulfilled wishes of the newly dead, or for communication and advice
concerning the family, or to give reasons for family misfortune.
49
There are many ways that Japanese participate in divination uranai
占い
.
General “reporting” or “talking to” at the butsudan does not appear to fall under
the necromancy nomenclature.
Chua cites the film Saving Private Ryan, where James Ryan, then an old
man, standing at the tombstone of Captain John Miller, who sacrificed his own
life to save him in battle, speaks to the dead man and then salutes the
tombstone. (Would westerners have no problem with this?) (Chua 2005b:9)
Benson Igboin gives a comparative view into similar issues: In Afrel the
idea of the conscious state of the dead is a complex one. The African world is
one of terrestrial blending. People in general believe that the dead are
conscious of themselves as well as the world they left behind.
This is why the issue of the dead conversing with themselves is held
to be true. Conversation requires some dints of consciousness. But
for the living, the consciousness of the dead is a metaphysical and
psychical one. There are claims of dreams, apparitions and trances
of the dead. In these, it is claimed that messages are passed on to
the living. There are myths that are replete with the conscious state
of the dead (Igboin 2005:264).
Some pastors are not clear about this issue, but Yoshimoto writes,
“Concerning ancestor worship (sic) the communication with the dead must be
strictly judged” (Yoshimoto 1987:138-39) – meaning “clearly forbidden.”.
Takimoto, who wrote one of the few books published for lay Christians, also
takes a very strong stand against all communication.
There are numerous warnings. Deut.18:10-11 “Let no one be found
among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices
divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or
who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.”
The “Complete Word Study Dictionary of the Old Testament” lists the
word “consult” sa’al, verb meaning to ask. One could ask another
person or even God for something (l Sam. 23:2; Ps. 122:6; 137:3;
Ecc. 7:10) People sometimes sought information by asking Urim and
could refer to borrow or lending (Baker and Carpenter 2003:1085).
Although the word primarily means to ask, yet the context of Deut 18:11
includes 3 other prohibitions to necromancy, given that the meaning of the
phrase in Hebrew parlance is the same, namely necromancy, and is forbidden.
50
Other instances of this word’s usage: in Is 8:19 it is used thus: “When
men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should
not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the
living?”
The word used in Ps 122:6 is translated as “pray” sa al; in Ps 137:3 it is
a request to do something. Ezek 21:21 it is used in a context of divination,
wanting advice; Hos 4:12, asking advice; l Kings 21:6 a request.
Looking at the meaning of the word used and the contexts, it would
appear that this is one of the disputable issues that are best avoided.
3.2.3 Prayer to the dead
According to respondents’ answers, asking ancestors for help is still
being done even in urban centres. In reply to the question about the ancestor’s
having “power to help”, there was strong denial. Asking for help (praying) was
not linked in their minds to any clear idea of strength chikara
力
It is not a
logical connection, which they admitted. Here we see an example of the
phenomena that Japanese are able to hold paradoxical views in their minds –
both/and. Yet there is some expectation of ability to help.
Suzuki felt there is evidence to suggest that the act of praying to or
praying for the deceased is being replaced by a growing emphasis on the
memories of the deceased. Smith, who leant strongly in the direction of
“idolatry”, wrote that although the ancestors were strong agents of social control
in the ie, they are more rather “sources of emotional support.” The fact that
there is a haziness between the living and the dead, where the dead are felt to
be “living dead”, clouds the issue more. If grandmother, who helped you in life,
is still “alive”, why not ask her for help now that she is still around, but in another
dimension? A difficult concept for westerners maybe, but theologians are
dealing here with categories in a different culture and thought system.
Deut. 18:11 is usually the first reference examined about prayer to the
dead. (See the word exposition in the previous section.)
The practice of prayer to the dead has historically been a problem:
moving from the Roman empire’s cult of the dead and the early martyrs; the
Christians asked them to mediate for them to God, whereas their
51
contemporaries regarded the dead as being able to intervene directly in their
lives.
3.2.4 Offerings to the Dead
Japanese offer incense, food and drink to the deceased and often open
the butsudan doors and “eat with the ancestors”. When gifts of food are
brought to the house by visitors they are often placed on the altar or kamidana.
When a festive meal begins, food is taken off the butsudan and eaten by
everyone. Leach suggests how an anthropologist can discover meaning out of
cultural phenomena. Firstly, “the indices in non-verbal communication systems,
like the sound elements in spoken language, do not have meaning as isolates
but only as members of sets”. Totality is important for meaning communication.
Further, “A sign or symbol only acquires meaning when it is discriminated from
some other contrary sign or symbol”. This relates “to the issue of a classifying
scheme in the mind and in cultural phenomena. The cultural phenomenon is an
externalised form bearing meaning in concept.” Leach feels that we engage in
rituals in order to transmit collective messages to ourselves” (Nishioka1997:73).
(By starting to hold non-religious funerals, the Japanese are signalling that the
incense burning means nothing to them, people admit they don’t know the
meaning, it is something to do with the ritual, but exactly what it means they do
not know.)
A public meaning exists in the minds of the majority of the members of a
society. Nishioka insists that according to critical contextualisation, the
subjective understanding of the reality evoked by a particular symbol such as
incense burning should be examined and judged according to Scripture.
Certain culturally conditioned reality is called forth at a funeral concerning
departed spirits, and one’s attitude to spirits and this understanding should be
examined in the light of biblical truth -this is the “user’s meaning”.
Psalm 106:28 “They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate
sacrifices offered to lifeless gods”. The Hebrew word translated here “lifeless
gods” is again the word for “the dead” as in Deut 18:11.
When speaking of the use of tithes Dt.26:14 “I have not eaten any of the
sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was
unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my
52
God.”. The Israelites must have been aware of an ancestral cult and also of the
ancestral dead being useful to consult for advice as in l Sam 28. There are
similarities here with Japanese family meals/party practices. These practices
are forbidden in the Old Testament. The basic incompatibility with a death cult
is also shown in the forbidding of burying their kings in the temple –
Ezek. 43:7-9
In the New Testament Paul teaches the Corinthians and Roman
churches that feasting in temples in front of the idols is forbidden, 1 Cor. 10: 14-
22, meat sold from shops that bought from temples was permitted to eat, but
that one had to make sure that another Christian was not harmed by the eating.
l Cor 10:23 The idol is “nothing”, not a god, but someone new to the faith, did
not see it as such. Offerings to idols (which are nothing, non-existent gods) are
offered to demons (l Cor 10:21) and therefore clearly forbidden.
Therefore it would seem if relatives or friends make a point of mentioning
something about the food having been offered to the dead, that the Christian
should refrain from eating, but otherwise, with a prayer of thanksgiving and
blessing in their hearts, it is acceptable to eat. Attending a festival meal in a
temple or shrine would be out of the spirit of the teaching.
Eating in front of the butsudan at a shrine or temple is interpreted as a
participative act of union. (Nishioka 1997:283) A key term in understanding the
mystic linkage in the passage is koinonia, which is usually translated as
‘participation; impartation or fellowship.’ In the Hellenistic usage, this term is
often used for the notion of the direct union with deity expressed in sacrificial
meals (Hauck). Paul’s concern in l Cor 10 14-22 is a dual allegiance signified
by their multiple participation in different religious meals. “ According to trope
analysis the eating of religious foods in a certain context (at the church supper
or before cultic altar) is viewed as an act of forming a union”
(Nishioka1997:283). Paul is trying to develop a new symbolic universe with a
solid boundary between Jesus and other demonic beings. (Nishioka 1997:285).
Eating a meal “in memory” of someone (and memorialism seems to be
where death practices are heading) should not be seen as a problem. This is
giving honour and respect to the ancestor. (Could the western custom of
presenting a park bench “in memory” of a relative, or a church hall built “in
memory of”, or a donation “in memory of” carry the same meaning?) A similar
53
question has been thoroughly studied by Rabban Sauma in “Ancestor Practices
in the Muslim World: a Problem of Contextualisation from Central Asia.”
3.2.5 Worship of the ihai, Bones, Tombstone, Ancestor Spirit
The belief is that the deceased’s spirit returns to live in the memorial
tablet. The priest will conduct a ceremony for this. After time elapses, the spirit
exists in the tablet, in the grave and the tombstone. Relatives kneel before the
tablet and at the grave, offer food, flowers, candles and incense and pray to the
deceased because of respect, love and for favours. This would appear to
contravene the 2nd Commandment “Thou shall not make for yourself an idol…
You shall not bow down to them or worship them…..” (Ex. 20: 4,5).
“They deify ancestors. But their cosmology, mytholody (sic) and
ancestors are judged by the First Commandment” (Yoshimoto1987:137). Deep
bowing to relatives or important people is a day-to-day Japanese custom. If
bowing these days shows person-to-person respect, can this bowing be taken
to be worship? Is worship involved, is it idolatry? What is the bower thinking
and doing? What is the purpose in the Japanese context? Chua presented this
study on “bow”:
Similarly, the Hebrew word hwxTvh, as the Eshtaphal stem of hwx,
has two meanings. Depending on the context, it can mean either “to
worship: or simply “to prostrate oneself: Harris et al., 2003: item
619, Theological Word Book of the Old Testament). For instance, in
Exodus 2:5, 2 Kings 17:35, and Nehemiah 8:6, the word is translated
in the New International Version as “to bow down and worship, but in
Genesis 23:7 and 42:6, it is translated simply as “to bow down.” In
the latter, there is no religious connotation whatsoever. 2 Kings
15:18 presents an interesting case in which the word appears twice.
From the context, it would appear that the first instance refers to a
religious act of worship on the part of Naaman’s master, and the
second instance refers to a simple act of bowing on the part of
Naaman. This Hebrew word is translated proskunew in the
Septuagint. In the New Testament, proskunew has similarly the two
sets of meanings, as in Matthew 4:9 and 2:20 respectively. I was
alerted to the polysemous nature of these biblical words by Dr Robert
Priest. (Chua 2005:24)
Smith felt in 1974 that he had no doubt that the family’s dead are its
gods, which are worshiped and petitioned. Towards the end of his book he
admitted that although the ancestors were “strong agents of social control within
54
the household”, they are now rather “sources of emotional support” (Chua
2005:19).
Terminology is important in considering the issues involved. The term
“ancestor worship” commonly used till recently is problematic as a translation of
the various aspects of ancestral practices. There are eight expressions in
Japanese to cover this phrase. Chua takes issue with Berentsen (1985:27-28)
who admits that a religious worship concept and a concept of
veneration/respect is included. What term is to be used in English? Berentsen
in 1985 decides against the term “ancestor veneration”, in case the term might
convey just memorialism.
Reid took a semantic historical view of the term, and said that Takeda
(1973) mentions that sosen suuhai as a Japanese term for ancestor worship is
not “natural” to Japan as it was “coined to accommodate a Western import”.
Fujii at a lecture in Tokyo in 1989 said that anthropologists do not use this term
any longer. Neutral terms such as sosen girei
儀礼
(dictionary: courtesy,
etiquette) or sosen saishi
祭式
(dictionary:rites, rituals) “ancestral rites’ are
used. Both these scholars agree that the English “ancestor worship” is not
adequate to describe what is happening in Japan. (Reid1991:130). Focus group
respondents clearly preferred the term “ancestor respect” in English.
Suuhai
崇拝
is translated as “worship” (dictionary: worship, admiration,
adoration) in English and indicates a “profound, reverential feels toward another
person, whether living or dead is not the criterion. In other contexts, it is better
translated “admiration” or “adoration” – as in poring over a baby. (The focus
groups respondents also preferred the use of this idea.)
Maeda points out that suuhai “implies a recognition that the object of
suuhai is superior to man and is in a position to control the life of the
‘worshipper’ (Berentsen 1985:27-28), but Chua reminds us that Kagawa used
this word of the common worker, showing respect and admiration for a worker.
Not worship. So suuhai need not necessarily be translated into “worship”.
Chua warns us that we need to understand the inner feelings of the
“worshipper” before making pronouncements as to the religiosity or otherwise of
the practices. Here we could add Rabban Sauma’s notes in his work on Central
Asian Ancestral practices: “Muslims believe that every religious act, to be valid,
must be undertaken with a ‘pure intention’ (Tk. Naxa niyet >Pers. Taze, Ar.
55
Niyya), which one declares to God in advance.” And “17. “in your heart”
(jurekpen) is a crucial modifier because of cultural peculiarities in the meaning
of worship. The argument applying the lesson of Elisha and Naaman to the
Central Asian context is convincing only if the MBB reader believes that joining
with Muslims in their ancestor worship is not worship in the sense that matters
to believers in their heart.” (Rabban Sauma 2002: 344) Intention of the heart is
an important concept to Japanese too.
Chua argued that “ancestor veneration” would cover all the Japanese
expressions; worship and all the non-religious phenomena that the Japanese
expressions may imply. (Chua 2005b:23) (He is a Singaporean missiologist,
brought up in a traditional Chinese home and whose wife is a Japanese.) Spae
in 1971 spoke of these momentous distinctions that need to be made
concerning the religious motivation that we make using parallel Christian
standards of religiosity. He writes that people whose religiosity is not
interiorised can behave ‘religiously” for non-religious motives, such as social
customs, and pressures.
Offner in 1979, felt that we are too hasty to decide that everything that
happens at a shrine or temple violates the First Commandment and that the
English “worship” is not static in its meaning. Chua chided Protestant scholars
who uncritically “assess ancestral practices in wholly religious terms, in other
words, as idol worship” (Chua, 2005a:24).
Spae, spoke of the internalisation of religiosity and the criteria that can
help us “evaluate religious phenomena from the sociological and theological
point of view”, and gave 3 aspects:
“1) a religious view of life, 2) of a referential ethic, derived from, and
connected with that view of life of which it is the source and
inspiration and, finally, 3) of religious practices, private and
communal, which assume sundry characteristics, e.g. a mystic,
intellectual, affective or social, commitment towards one’s religion”
(Spae1971:18).
Stark and Glock spoke of some sort of encounter, contact between
themselves and supernatural consciousness. Wach’s definition of religious
experience is (1) a response to what is experienced as Ultimate Reality; (2) a
total response most powerful, comprehensive, shattering, and profound
56
experience of which man is capable; and (4) the most powerful source of
motivation and action. Prof Doi Masatoshi has often remarked that the “basic
trait of the Japanese mentality is the absence of the sense of ultimacy”
(Spae1971:30). (This was the impression we got while discussing with the
focus group – a big void in their spiritual being.)
Smith agreed that there are two aspects, respect and worship. Respect
arising from civic duty and worship involving religious rites. The first is
legitimate and allows for ancestral veneration, not involving fear or worship.
Respect includes appropriate acts of filial piety involving honour, esteem,
reverence, devotion, love and homage to ancestors as humans, but excludes
any worship or deification of them. The focus group insisted on the primacy of
respect, not worship – are we here seeing “blinded” idol-worshippers or people
objectively evaluating complex feelings? Questions were directed in 2006 at
not-yet-Christians and not to Japanese converts because they have already
imbibed stereotypes.
Professor Doi Masatoshi’s study group in the late 1950’s for the United
Church of Christ’s Study Centre for Mission sent out a questionnaire to 200 of
that church’s congregations and 80 responses were received. The wording
took care to distinguish between respect/keii and worship with petition/ogamu,
拝む
kigan suru
奇岩する
. 57.8% cited respect as the explanation for their
participation in ancestor rites, while 3.3% cited it as worship and supplication.
(This now is the position found in 2006 of non-Christian focus group’s
statements.) Berentsen argues that it is not enough to look at the
consciousness of people, because if the rites are still functioning institutionally
in a part of the population, that there is the possibility of a revival of the religious
values in the minds of people at large. There needs to be significant changes at
the institutional level “which are draining the rites of their religious content”
(Berentsen 1985:142). Secularisation happens as a dialectic between the
phenomena of consciousness and the institutional nature of the rites. The
writer feels that in 2007 we have reached a point of no return in Buddhist
strength, but not of that of Shintoo beliefs.
The dates of this scholarship shows that more could be done currently on
a linguistic basis. It would appear from Suzuki’s writings that the element of
“worship”, translated as suuhai has diminished in popular practice and
57
understanding. Even the idea of ‘respect” in Japanese usage has changed over
time. We are arguing over the meaning of words, but what are the Japanese
actually doing, according to themselves? The focus group insists it is respect.
Deep respect.
In Japan the close inter-changeability between humans and kami makes
the question more difficult to answer. The paradox in the Japanese mind is not
one difficult to hold, whereas to the Westerner it is more clear.
This kind of confusion is not peculiar to Japan alone:
In Central Asia, (Rabban, there is the Qur’anic term that is reserved
for worship of God (Uz. Ibodat; Kz.gibadat<Ar. ‘ibada), which is
understood in Islam primarily in the sense of saying the prescribed
five daily prayers (Pers./Tk. Namaz; Ar. Salat). The Arabic word
ibada is unfamiliar to most Central Asian Muslims, so it is translated
literally with the Turkic word qulshiliq, meaning service or slavery.
Applying the distinction between ibada and other terms, it is possible
to argue that Central Asian Muslims do not actually worship but only
honour or memorialise the dead, because the namax alone is true
worship or ibada for Muslims.
If this answer were acceptable to all, it might absolve Muslims of the
accusation of worshiping spirits. The problem with it is that the entire
Turkic semantic domain specified above is applied in popular
discourse to the worship both of God and the ancestor spirits, except
for bagishlama which applies only to God. The problem lies with the
middle terms in the semantic range. In Central Asia one frequently
hears Muslims using the words sivinu and tabinu for worship both of
God and of the ancestor spirits. Those capable of critical reflection
then confess sheepishly that this way of confusing the objects of
worship is contrary to the Shariah, the law of Islam.
Suzuki in “McFunerals” concludes
that to state that the Japanese McFuneral is proliferating does
not deny the existence of religious practices nor does it refute
the presence of religious elements in practice. The functions of
religious practice indicated by Durkheim is ‘its concentrated
expression of the whole collective life’: and the representation
of the ‘system of ideas’ held by a society (Suzuki 2003:72-73).
Worship? In his survey, Offner, reports that “in performing these
rites, respondents felt “no sense of a humble creatureliness nor a
feeling of awe before an all-powerful deity, no sense of divine glory
58
which praise nor an idea of holiness that stimulates confession of
sin”, so not “worship” in the Biblical sense. (Chua 2005a:21).
Table 1: Overt and Covert Culture; Form and Variation
(based on Voget 1975:747)
Form Psychological
Processes
Change
Rates
Extrapolated
Change
Processes
Overt/Variation Periphery Habituations
subjected to
conscious
control
Rapid (no
deepseated
conflicts)
Variation
(History)
Covert/Structure Core Unconscious
conditioning
of
motivations
Gradual
(conflict)
Structural
(Evolution)
(Nishioka 1997:16)
As seen above, covert or unconscious aspects of culture change slowly,
whereas overt or conscious parts tend to change rapidly. Much Japanese
“ancestor worship” is “worship” no longer.
The conclusion is that for many in the cities that what they physically do
or think while observing the traditional rites, is no longer worship in the Biblical
sense. Many perhaps would be glad to not have the Buddhist priest there as a
representative of his religion. Could we say that if there were other ways of
showing respect and observing a rite of passage, that Japanese would do so?
The “living funeral” is already first step in this direction. Could it be that in 20
years’ time the non-religious funeral will be at a 50% level in the cities? Has the
time come for the popularisation of Christian funerals as the wedding has been
popularised, bringing wide opportunities for evangelism and pastoral care?
59
3.2.6 Religion
Are ancestor practices religious? It goes beyond the scope of this paper
to examine the enormous concept of “religion”, but we may briefly cite Geertz,
Chua and Ooms. Chua quotes Geertz who wrote In 1973 Geertz he defined
religion as a system of symbols that formulate “conceptions of a general order
of existence.” (Chua 2005a:10) Ooms is quoted by Chua: he regarded ancestor
rites as “a religious phenomenon which has more modest ambitions” and
concludes that the religious dimension in a religion is not to be found in the
expectation of either blessings or punishments from the ancestors, but rather in
the experience of an emotion or an encounter. He gives 3 levels of intimacy: (l)
a feeling of fulfilment of duty, thankfulness, (2) experiencing the ancestor’s
presence (3) mutual awareness of each other’s presence. He predicts that with
secularisation that the 2nd and 3rd levels of encounter will decrease, but that 1
will continue, as it provides way to cope with the fundamental problem of death.
(Chua 2005a:10-11) Chua here argues that the first level cannot be regarded
as religious just because it is a way of coping with death and that a feeling of
fulfilment of duty. Spae argued that if people’s religiosity is institutionalised
without being interiorised, they may behave “religiously: for non-religious
motives – and these, as Chua emphasized could be the reason why the
ancestor customs continue, although the Buddhist meaning/content seems to
be disappearing. Enns reported in 2001 that the religion is dependant on
funerary rites for its survival.
The argument about what is religion has been dealt with at length in the
literature. “The rubric of shuukyoo
宗教
religion is rather elastic, depending on
the context, its semantic range expands or contracts” (Chua 2005:29). Chua
agreed with Reader and Tanabe that a western definition applied to Japan will
give us unreliable results. There is a clear distinction “between religious belief
and religious feelings” according to a 1992 evaluation of a Japanese
government survey. And the Japanese themselves may not be cognitively
aware of this distinction. So thinking people might disassociate the ancestral
rites from “religion”.
Chua tended to see the religious elements located in the funeral,
mourning rites, 49th day memorial service, and anniversary services. The
60
observances at the butsudan and grave visits seem to include both religious
and non-religious elements.
Clearly the final word on these issues has not been given and one would
hope that the Church in Japan would plan up-to-date studies, plus the
missionary community would humbly and sympathetically listen to the
Japanese, both those inside and outside the Church in this changing situation.
Next we will examine how the indigenous Christian Japanese groups
have handled the subject in response to their culture and history. Surveys and
questions to Church denominations, mission groups, Seminaries and Bible
Colleges will show what they are teaching and practising with reference to life
after death. The Biblical teaching on life after death with relevant mention of
Japanese issues will be given.
61
4 CHRISTIAN BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
CHAPTER 4
CHRISTIAN BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
The Japanese have not been passive recipients of Christianity, but
active agents who reinterpreted and reconstructed the faith in terms that made
sense to them. Nowhere is this better seen than in the so-called ‘indigenous
groups’. We will examine the indigenous movements with special regard for
their contextualisation of ancestor practices.
4.1 Indigenous Movements
The indigenous groups developed in the 1930’s and 1940’s started to
read the Bible with Japanese insights and in the light of Japanese folk religion.
Most representative of the indigenous groups that tried to indigenise were the
Glorious Gospel Christian Church, the Spirit of Jesus Church, the Original
Gospel and the Holy Ecclesia of Jesus. Some would view these as syncretistic
groups, but the founders and followers see these as Holy Spirit-led progressive
revelation to the Japanese. (Some are included in statistics and lists in the
general Christian Yearbook.)
Some clearly shun the ancestor practices as idol worship. The Spirit of
Jesus Church sees the butsudan and ancestral tablets as indwelt by evil spirits.
Buddhist utensils and altars are burnt. Many other groups are more tolerant.
The Holy Ecclesia of Jesus published a handbook, where much attention is
given to the problem of ancestors; a chapter, “Concerning Ancestor
Venerations” gives their position:
In accordance with the Scriptures, the orthodox Christian church
teaches that we are to respect our parents and truly honour our
ancestors, and for this reason we reverently hold memorial services
and festivals for the comforting of the spirits. Although we take
special care of the dead and have high regard for our ancestors, in
Christianity we do not worship the dead. As human beings, we
62
should only worship the one true God who is the creator of heaven
and earth and the source of our being; although we pray to God for
the eternal peace of the dead, we do not worship the dead (Mullins
1998:139).
Also the Original Gospel, at a symposium on ancestral rites and
memorial services, reiterated these feelings, but said that an “expression of
gratefulness and respect toward those to whom the living are indebted” is
necessary in ancestral rites” (Mullins1998:139). The movements vary in their
teachings concerning traditional ancestor practices, but all have initiated
“alternative functionally equivalent practices to remember and care for the dead”
(Mullins,1998:39). Respect and memorialism goes together in their practices
4.1.1 Memorialism
Where the founder has died, the group has instituted memorial rites. The
Non-Church movement holds memorial lectures and banquets on the Sunday
nearest to the death of Uchimura Kanzoo, which are mainly evangelistic
opportunities, yet they provide expressions of respect for Uchimura. Christ
Heart Church holds a service for the founder, Kawai Shinsui after a 3-day
retreat of lectures, church and grave cleaning. Likewise the founder of the
Original Gospel Church is memorialised in annual services plus at the founding
church, elderly members still clean the grave and offer flowers every 3 days at
the grave of Teshima.
Attention is also given to the families and members of the movements.
They have adopted the cyclical and linear rites for the dead which are observed
in Japanese practice. Often during Obon they have a Common Memorial
Service for Comforting the Spirits – goodooireisai
合同
例祭
At one church
there is a service remembering the death of the Shoowa emperor and in
addition to Bible readings and hymns, the names of all deceased members are
read. A taped sermon by the founder, words of comfort and remembrance,
respects at the grave, goes before a lunch when memories and stores are
shared about the deceased.
63
The Holy Ecclesia of Jesus hold services on the day that Roman
Catholics memorialise the dead and also at Obon
お盆
and Higan
彼岸
Members hold a photograph of the deceased relative, bring them forward, place
them on a table and there are pastoral prayers. A Lord’s Supper on behalf of
the dead is then held. The dead are then receiving this communion in heaven.
Memorial services do not generally have a set liturgy. Some groups provide
memorial services for the fallen of the war on Okinawa and also for the
Christian martyrs of the 17th century on Kyuushuu.
64
Table 2: Memorialism and Ritual Care of the Dead
in Japanese Christian Movements (Mullins, 140)
INDIGENOUS MOVEMENT
YEAR
ORGANIZED
FOUNDER
MEMORIALS
CYCLICAL
RITES
LINEAR
RITES
HYMNS
EXTENSION
OF
SALVATION
TO THE
SPIRIT
WORLD
FAMILY
ALTARS
(BUTSUDAN
OR
CHRISTIAN
EQUIVALENT)
Nonchurch movement 1901 Ñ
The Way 1907
Christ Heart Church 1927
Glorious Gospel Christian Church 1936
Living Christ One Ear of Wheat Church 1939
Christian Canaan Church 1940
Japan Ecclesia of Christ 1940
Spirit of Jesus Church 1941
Holy Ecclesia of Jesus 1946
*Founder
living
The Sanctifying Christ Church 1948 Founder
living
Original Gospel (Tabernacle Movement) 1948
Life-Giving Christ 1966 Founder
living
Okinawa Christian Gospel 1977 Founder
living
Shaded cells indicate presence of phenomena in contemporary religious practice.
*The wife of the founder, referred to as reiboosama, spiritual mother, is remembered each year at a memorial service.
Ñ In the case of the Nonchurch movement, memorial lectures are held on the Sunday nearest 28 March, the anniversary of the death of Uchimura.
65
Many indigenous movements allow followers to keep a butsudan and to
join family members in their rites. The Original Gospel allows followers to pray
in front of the butsudan, where their ancestors prayed. When they hold a
meeting in such a home, the menorah (symbol of God and light) is placed in
front and the butsudan doors left open. The Holy Ecclesia of Jesus, leads
members to have an alternative Christian family altar for worship and prayer.
Small wooden crosses have the names or “spiritual names” of the family
deceased written on them.
4.1.2 Evangelism of the ie
Feelings of family solidarity in the ie are very strong and one leader said
that he has confidence that his ancestors are saved, because of Christ’s grace
to him when he was saved. This idea is linked to Abraham becoming a source
of blessing for all the families of the earth.
4.1.2.1 Vicarious Baptism
Vicarious baptism is done in the Spirit of Jesus Church. (Another
indigenous group in the west that pays attention to genealogy and the
household, are the Mormons and there is also baptism for the dead.) In
Buddhism, one of the acts of mercy of the Buddha was to go into hell and
preach to those lingering there. According to 1 Cor. 15:29 “Now if there is no
resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are
not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” According to Murai there
is salvation for ancestors and family members through baptism – and Murai
invites newcomers to believe and bring their ie into the kingdom as well. They
also provide baptism for mizuko
水子
(aborted and stillborn children).
Newcomers are encouraged to accept the gospel for their own salvation and
told that they may perhaps receive salvation for ancestors through vicarious
baptism. At baptism, the ancestor’s name is given and the relationship to the
deceased and then they receive baptism by immersion for the deceased.
Believers can then put aside all worries about their relatives’ salvation.
66
A hymn reads, lst, 5th and 6th verses:
The spirits of our long-sleeping ancestors
Still now are weeping in sorrow.
Spring passes, summer comes, autumn goes and winter comes,
But hades is eternally winter’s dead of night.”
By and by the gates of hades are opened
Through the name of Jesus.
The substitutionary baptism of descendants in the world –
Oh, what immeasurable grace!….
[Oh,] the cries of joy reverberate!
Our ancestors have been saved!
The light of grace shines all around,
The songs of the angels thunder throughout heaven and earth. (Mullins,
151,152).
4.1.2.2 Vicarious Communion
Reading the Bible independently, Christians have seen hope for
those who have died without hearing the gospel. 1 Pet 3:18-22 “For Christ also
suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring
you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in
which also He went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in
former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah,
during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is eight persons, were saved
through water.” Also 1 Pet. 4:6 “For this reason the gospel was proclaimed
even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh, they might
live in the spirit as God does.”
This ministry to the dead is understood as a continuation of the work of
Jesus in His descent into hades and preaching to the imprisoned spirits.
4.1.2.3 Prayers for the Dead
The Glorious Gospel Christian Church encourages followers
to pray on behalf of their deceased relatives. In Vol 2 of “The Glorious Gospel”,
Sugita wrote of his certainty that
67
offering prayers of intercession on behalf of the dead is a good and
proper thing for believers to do. Although there is no Scriptural text
stating that those prayed for will necessarily be saved, neither is
there a text instructing us not to pray for the dead (Mullins, 148).
The fact that Jesus descended into hades to preach to the spirits there, is
a clear indication of God’s love to them. God will decide about their salvation.
4.1.2.4 Preaching to the Dead
Teshima (Original Gospel) said that
the spirits cannot eat material bread, but they can eat the word of
God. That is why the most appropriate memorial rite to read to them
is the word of God. Through our prayerful reading of the Bible, the
‘wandering spirits’ receive guidance and are pointed in the direction
of Christ” (Mullins, 148)
He also taught that it is not necessary to throw out the Buddhist altar and
memorial tablets, rather open the butsudan and “preach the gospel to the
ancestors” (Mullins1998:148). A disciple of Teshima explained to Mullins that
the first thing he did after conversion and healing was to go to the butsudan and
report his conversion to his ancestors and he prayed they would receive Christ’s
light.
Another group to be mentioned would be the Kakure Kirishitan on
Kyuushuu. After the edict banning Christianity in the early 17th century, under
Tokugawa, these believers denied their faith by stepping on a tablet of Christian
images, fumie
踏み絵
and recanting, yet they continued to practice their faith in
Jesus in private and when Roman Catholic and Japanese officials organized a
meeting in 1865 a sizeable group of descendants appeared at the meeting.
Folk Catholicism and traditional orthodox Christian teaching blended over the
years. Whelan has translated their sacred text Tenchi no hajimari no koto (The
Beginning of Heaven and Earth) and scholars today are showing interest again
in their history and current practice.
Although these movements have developed from Japanese leadership
and indigenised practices, Mullins shows that the only church which is still
growing is the Holy Ecclesia of Jesus, but that demographics of the general
country and the drop in Sunday School numbers, suggest that future growth is
68
doubtful. What has attracted people over a few decades is not doing so
anymore, as these movements are growing less rapidly than mission planted
churches. (Mullins1998:166)
The Indigenous Movements illustrate the importance of ancestor
practices to Japanese. In various ways the indigenous movements care for the
dead and care for the salvation of the spirit world. After baptism, spirits of the
dead go to heaven and become benevolent ancestors, pray for their ie and
protect them. In these ways the Japanese indigenous movement provides
comfort for that inner loneliness that the Japanese feels when cut off from the
system of the ancestor cult by becoming a Christian. What are the ‘orthodox’
churches and missionary groups teaching and practising?
4.2 The Church: Teaching and Practice
The largest denominations are: (Christian Yearbook of 2006) Roman
Catholic Church 448 316, Japan, United Church 97 352, Anglican Church 27
950, Assemblies of God Church 9759, Holiness 8403, Japan Evangelical
Church Alliance 8037. Telephone enquiries revealed the following: All the
churches have memorial services for the dead, once, some twice a year. Some
of the JECA (Japan Evangelical Church Alliance) churches did not do this as a
denomination. The Anglican Church commemorates the dead at the All Saints
service in November; the dead are remembered as part of the communion
service and they send out notices to the families concerning the once-monthly
memorial service which is conducted for those who died within that month. One
or 2 months after death, the bones are interred at a service conducted at the
grave. They do not emphasize the ancestors but the concept of the “family of
God”. Up till recently they did not hold a wake ceremony, but they do now.
Their book of liturgy is updated to 1999.
All churches would conduct services at the grave, some only if requested
by the family. Most had their own church grave or cemeteries. Mainline
denominations have a set liturgy, the Immanuel Church uses a book of prayers.
All except the Anglican discourage members from offering incense at
Buddhist funerals and encourage them rather to stand with bowed head,
praying quietly for the bereaved family and maybe to give flowers. Some
mainline churches allow members to observe the offering at the butsudan if they
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are living with non-Christian family, because of the feelings of the family, or
some churches say individuals can decide. Members can stand and pray to
God for the salvation of their families. (Japan Lutheran Church encourages
members to have a special place in the house where they remember the dead.
A cross can be used, flowers and a photo. This is for the sake of the feelings of
the family.) Some teach about Christ’s victory over tatari, but not all. Some
teach as the need arises in Bible studies and sermons.
No church does any special service on the 49th day after death. (A local
Nishi Evangelical Lutheran church pastor did so upon request.) Documents to
prepare for their own funeral are used by all, with variations in the Anglican
Church.
More details is given on the following churches:
4.2.1 Nihon Kirisuto Koodan (United Church)
The handbook of the church on funerals starts with “the funeral is not
worship towards the dead” (Berentsen 1985:170). So there is a clear desire
not to direct worship towards the dead. Yoshimoto (1987:110) cites Doi
Masatoshi’s case study in the late 1950’s: They raised the question how
ancestral rites pertaining to the old family system influences the everyday life of
the Christian. Questionnaires were sent to 200 churches. Responses came
from 80. Of special interest is the fact that the questionnaire operates with a
clear distinction between respect keii
敬意
towards the ancestors and worship
with supplication ogamu,
拝む
kigan suru.
祈願
In accordance with this
distinction, 57.8 % explained their participation in traditional rites/festivals as
paying respect to the ancestors, while 3.3% said it to be worship and
supplication. To these figures the study group adds the comment that even
after they have become Christians, the mood of ancestor worship remains
rather strong. However, through the instruction of the church, worship suuhai is
consciously changed to respect keii. According to our 2007 focus group’s
response, this attitude of respect is now prevalent amongst urban traditional
Japanese. Concerning “worship”, in the 1970’s the debate about the offering of
flowers instead of incense was brought up again and Yamamoto Naotaka writes
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that it is a practice which should rather be done away with. This gives insight
into the dilemma.
4.2.2 Roman Catholic Church
In the guide to the funeral, the foreword explains the use of incense,
saying it is offered “in order to express respect towards the body of the dead as
a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit.” (Berentsen1985:67) The priest offers incense
facing both the altar and the coffin. At the close, prayer is given that the “dead
may be added to the saints”, silent prayer and then another offering of incense
to the coffin. In the general Mass the priest and acolytes bow in front of the
altar and offer incense and this is explained as conduct expressing religious
respect ”to the altar” (Berentsen 1985:67).
A clear eschatological view is found on the first page of the guide to the
funeral: “the Christian funeral is to be seen in the perspective of the fulfilment of
the kingdom of God, the second coming of Christ and resurrection of the dead.”
On November 2nd All Saints’ Day is observed and services are conducted for
the deceased and in this month they are prayed for.
4.2.3 Evangelical Lutheran Church
In the Lutheran handbook, before the various funerary rites, it states that
the Christian funeral is “not – as in other religions – to pray for the happiness of
the dead and/or to worship the deceased.” Further warnings are given lest the
rite or atmosphere goes into worship of the dead or idolatry in any aspect, from
encoffinment to the memorial services.“
The following is our observation on All Saints Day in November 2007 at
the All Souls’ Memorial Service, Zenseitoobi. There was a table with several
steps, covered with white cloth at the front right of the sanctuary. Here church
members had placed photos of deceased family members (both church
members and non-church members) in plain wooden frames. Older photos
were black and white, more recent were in colour. There were 3 small vases of
flowers decorating the table.
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During the morning service, Rev Ikegami Yasushi led a short service of
remembrance, reading from the liturgy of the West Japan Evangelical Lutheran
Church. At the start of the service there was solemn reading of the full name
and date of death of each deceased family member, otherwise there were no
contextualised features in actual wording. There was no incense offered, no
bowing to the photos, no prayers to the deceased or prayers for their salvation.
Prayers were offered to God, giving thanks for the deceased and their salvation.
No mention was made of the communion of the saints. (We noted that the
children’s story for the day was the history of the ten plagues, the last being the
killing of the eldest son and wondered how the many visiting non-Christian
relatives would perceive this.) “Mitama o kudarite”, (Come Holy Spirit) was
sung. Mitama
御霊
is also the word for an ancestor’s spirit.
Non-Christian relatives attending the service were offered a Christian
calendar as a gift on leaving. After a simple lunch together, church members
went 1 and a half hours by car to the Christian cemetery where the church
maintains a grave. There the gravesite was weeded, tidied and fresh flowers
placed before the tombstone. Rev Ikegami read from the Scriptures, “What a
friend we have in Jesus”, was sung and the Lord’s Prayer was prayed together
with the minister ending in a short prayer. All stood behind the tombstone to
have a memorial photo taken.
Some months later “Note to Heaven” Tengoku ni nooto was included in
the church bulletin, the purpose explained by the minister and Christians were
asked to fill it in and return it to the church. Here personal preferences for their
own funerals were noted and details of agreements with family members
recorded. (This prevents difficulties with relatives and Buddhist priests over
Christian rites.) This pastoral request has led to some not attending church
anymore.
Luttio objected to the JELC opening up the Christian funeral to nonbelievers.
(Strand 2004:245) Although church funerals would at this stage be a
very good opportunity for evangelism and pastoral care, in general in Japan
many are against giving Christian funerals for non-believers, forgetting that if
they were in the ministry in their home churches, they would be doing many
funerals for non-believers. “It would take so much work!”
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4.2.4 Mission organisations
What are missions doing with regard to ancestor practices? The
following were questions posed to leaders or experienced representatives of the
11 largest missions in Japan. Some were chosen because of length of work in
the country. Questions are in Appendix 2, No 1.
Responses showed that none except one group’s missionaries had any
training concerning ancestor practices before coming to Japan. One had a little.
None gave specific on-the-job training. Some used the Japan Evangelical
Missionary Association’s resources, some pick it up, some admitted “we don’t
do enough” and one group whose missionaries work under Japanese pastors,
entrust any training to them.
Memorial services were held by all, except 2 – one not knowing what I
meant. Services at the graves are conducted by 3, others said it varied, and
one did not observe anything. Churches varied a good deal about possessing
graves or cemeteries. Asked about introducing a substititute for the butsudan,
all except one said, “No.” Ancestor practices are seen as worship, by all except
one, who did not mind activity in front of the butsudan. All except one group
teaches Christians to stop burning incense to the dead. The question regarding
the ie had the most divergence in answers. 3 did not understand the term used
in the question, one had never been asked that before. Only 4 answered in the
affirmative, but this could mean only family respect because of the way the
question was formulated. Two mentioned the element of respect. From the
way in which respondents answered, we think more than 3 did not know the
term ie. One group teaches very strict separation at death: “No more amae
甘え
dependence on the parents, a real break.”
All replied that they would welcome a contextualised teaching tool, given
due review as to doctrine (2), if it would be helpful for evangelism (1), and if
there were no syncretism (1)
4.2.5 OMF Church Members
My own organization’s practices were investigated. The following
questions were posed by Strand in 2004 to 5 different church groups and are
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used here with his permission. Christians from missionary-led churches and
Japanese minister-led churches answered. A total of 33 responded.
The Questions are to be found in the Appendix 2, No 2..
Ancestors? Most thought of their parents or grand-parents as ancestors.
No-one mentioned anyone further back. 15 said the ancestors are living; there
were many variations as to how they are living.
16 said the spirit does not change, 8 said they are nearby, 17 felt that
there is a spiritual world (I think they misunderstood question no. 7). 21 said
they do not observe any death day hooji memorial for family dead. 19 do not go
for grave visits with their families. 24 do not offer incense or pray to the
ancestor. 12 do not pray to them, 10 did not answer. 25 do nothing at higan.
26 do nothing at Obon. 27 do not have a butsudan in the home. 24 say they do
nothing at the butsudan (Probably meaning their original family home
butsudan.
30 believed that ancestors do not help or harm them. 28 say they have
not experienced any cursing by the ancestors. 29 feel that nothing they do can
influence the ancestors. All, without exception feel that they cannot influence
the dead and 32 felt that if they do not offer incense or food, etc that the final
destination of the ancestor is not changed.
The answers given indicate a Christian worldview, that incense and
merit-making is not believed any longer and also that their knowledge of the
condition of dead spirits is hazy, needing more teaching and emphasis. They
are also not knowledgeable about Buddhism in any detail.
4.2.6 Hokkaidoo Japanese Pastors and OMF missionaries
Questions are to be found in Appendix 2, No 3.
There were13 missionaries respondents and 20 pastors, making a total
of 33. 8 missionaries hold memorial services; those who didn’t, did not yet
have any dead in their young churches. Only 1 missionary would not hold
memorial services. All pastors except 1 hold such services and one said he
would if requested to do so.
One missionary had performed a funeral for a non-Christian and 6
pastors said he would if he were requested to do so. It seemed to be a foreign
concept to memorialize non-Christian people to all respondents. 5 out of 13
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missionary-led churches have gravesites, but the rest would do so later. All
pastor-led churches either have one or share one. One missionary-led church
has an ossuary and all the pastor-led churches deposit the bones into the
grave. 5 out of 13 missionaries do services at the graves, but it was not clear
whether this is on a separate occasion from the annual memorial service. The
same percentage accounts for the pastors’ actions. Only 2 missionaries would
do a service at the 49th day if requested and none at l year. I felt that most did
not understand the significance of the 49th day and did not ask why I asked that
particular question. Some pastors were very firm about not doing anything on
the 49th day (7 out of 20 would if asked). 4 out of 20 missionaries give teaching
on life after death and funeral plans, 1 would if asked and 1 did this individually.
17 distribute funeral planning documents to be filled in. 10 pastors teach on this
subject, others teach at memorial services, funerals and at Easter. 11 out of 13
missionaries hold New Year services. Only 3 pastors do not. No-one speaks
about the departed believers at New Year. 2 missionaries have services at
Obon. 3 pastors have services at Obon, 1 going to the grave. In Hokkaidoo
there is a 2-day conference over the Obon holidays to which many go.
So attention is being given to the ancestors, but in the writer’s opinion,
following the lead of other denominations, more should be done. More
teaching, more contextualisation of traditional customs – boldly and wisely
done, led by Christian experts in Buddhism who are able to guard against
syncretism. More emphasis should be laid on teaching on the family, the family
of God, family activities and care of and genuine love of the elderly.
4.2.7 Seminaries, Bible Colleges
Questions posed to principals, of the main Seminaries and Bible Colleges in
Japan: are found in Appendix 2, No. 4.
There are over 200 Bible colleges of various sizes. 7 of the larger ones
were interviewed, but the impression is that older denominations had clearer
theological thinking, that much seemed to be left to the churches to do as they
wished, that the issues were not systematically dealt with, some leaving it to
“Missiology lecturers”. In Japan this is hardly an issue for Missiology only.
Most were helpful, 1 in particular, very quickly and systematically forthcoming
on all relevant issues, 1 told me “we are evangelical, it is rude to ask about this.”
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The conclusion is that as a subject, life after death is not systematically and
contextually taught and is not seriously grappled with by theological educators.
(Fukuda 1991:10-11)
4.3 Biblical Teaching on Relevant Issues of Life After Death
We have examined the indigenous groups’ teaching and practices, those
of the churches, missions and the seminaries in Japan. We will now examine
relevant Biblical teaching on life after death.
4.3.1 Life After Death
In ancestor worship, death does not constitute a final barrier between the
living and the dead. The family closeness continues. In both Buddhism and
Shintoo. The radical distinction between life and death is lacking. Although not
wanting to be known as a “funeral religion” death needs to be clearly
theologised and the message of the living who triumph over death because of
Christ the Victor, needs to be clearly preached.
Biblically, death is seen as a result of sin, (Althaus), not as being part of
man’s material nature and a biological phenomenon. (Wachter) Heroic death is
not found in the New Testament, because of sin and judgement, death is a
terrible thing. Christ vicariously bore the biological death of man as his last
enemy and after atoning for sin, he rose from death. The power of death was
taken away. (l Cor. 15:26, Acts 2:24, Rom 6:23) With no afterlife, there is no
final justification or final social reconciliation.
Kumano Yoshitake made a clear point when he writes that “a clear
eschatological understanding of Christian faith – of death, resurrection,
judgment, and eternal life – is a prerequisite for a proper funeral” (Berentsen,
179). Vagueness is responsible for confusion about proper forms in Japanese
churches.
The afterlife is variously viewed - Freud sees a regressive idea, Karl
Marx a ploy of the elite class – an avoidance technique. Evolutionary
psychologists and socio-biologists posit that genetic survival is all that matters.
Even theists locate heaven as a reality in the mind – a state of mind; a godly
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humanist sees a symbol for socialised human beings as they receive rewards
for enduring activities that benefit their societies. (Roberts 2003:32)
Greeks like Plato and the Jewish scholar Philo, whose thoughts of
immateriality as the true reality – which would fit in well with Buddhist ideas -
moved towards a “continuance of self-consciousness through souls, which upon
death would join other non-material entities, like angels” (Roberts 2003:23). A
co-existent spiritual reality is seen, a ”parallel universe” where souls are
immortal, but not to be resurrected as a personal body, but this does not reach
the Biblical teaching. Even heaven in the mind of God, being absorbed in the
Absolute, the joy of mystics, does not.
Smith saw heaven as “the abode of God, which picture he finds
reinforced by such biblical terms as tabernacle, temple and sanctuary (Roberts
2003:206)
4.3.2 God, Man and Spirits
It is precisely because the Japanese concentrate on the ancestral spirits
that there is difficulty in getting ideas on the afterlife biblically understood. The
afterlife is not afterlife per se, it is the afterlife with God, with Christ. Paul wrote,
that he desired to depart and be with Christ. Phil 1:23
The Bible shows God to be the Father of mankind, benevolent, involved,
merciful, righteous. He is the One by whom all families on earth are named.
He is different from His creation and creatures and created all things ex nihilo.
God rules His creation. He rules heaven and hell. Even hell does not belong to
Satan.
God is immanent. He is our Guide and Friend. We can talk to Him and
expect his help. (The Japanese are more avid to get guidance from various
occult means than to practise any religion. There is a general distrust for
organized religion. Yet there seems to be a hunger for direction and interest in
the unseen.)
The basic teaching of God as man’s Creator in Gen. 1 and 2 goes
against the idea of human and divine coalescing in cosmic oneness, because
we see God who does not belong to the cosmos, who brings it all into being in a
personal way. Not only is pantheism rejected, but the transcendent God is
close at hand. Not immanent in the sense of dwelling in all. As Stauffer points
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out, only in Acts 17:22 ff do we come close to such an idea, but it was put into a
new context, “in the light of their Jewish-Christian belief in God” (Berentsen
1985:152). Words and phrases were borrowed from pagan writers, but new
meaning put into them. God is close at hand, the life-giver and sustainer.
(Fukuda 2003:56)
Berentsen suggested a similar contextualising approach to a family in
front of their butsudan.
He (Paul) might have said that he understands from their activities at
the family altar that they are not only concerned with the memory of
their forefathers, but with the intimate fellowship in gratefulness with
their ancestral spirits – their kami and their hotoke – to whom they
believe they owe their very existence. He might have said that this
gratefulness of theirs should first of all be directed to God ‘the King of
kings and Lord of lords’, who ‘does not live in shrines made by man’
but is the maker of heaven and earth, and who – at the same time –
is close at hand to every one of them as their life-giver and sustainer,
as one of their own sages has said: ‘The heart of man is the abode
of God; think not that God is something distant’, then he might have
used this homiletical point of contact to go on to talk of God who
dwells ‘in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a
contrite and humble spirit; (Is. 57:15), on the closeness of God and
the fellowship with him in Christ, and then ended his address with a
serious call to repentance (Berentsen 1987:53).
The nature of man too needs clarification: ancestor rites seek to bring
the innate Buddha-nature, bussho
仏性
of man to Buddha status in the afterlife,
joobutsu.
成仏
One could argue that 2 Pet. 1:4 could be interpreted in this way,
but in Israel their God’s divinity and their forefathers’ humanity were never
confused in this way.
While confessing the imago dei, we nevertheless would not follow Origen
and Clemens in their idea of the feiwsis of man, trying to synchronize Greek
philosophy and Christian faith; or the Greek Orthodox anthropology, unifying the
divine and human nature through the incarnation of Christ, but agree with New
Testament authors that the fellowship of God and man extends further than
fellowship of this world, and extends into complete renewal and glorifying of
one’s sinful and mortal nature. Even 1 John 3:2 is intended to show man in his
ultimate coalescence with the divine, so that man is no longer man. (Berentsen
1987:159). Tertullian also saw a ‘holistic’ view of the human person, but
rejected any deification of man in the afterlife. (Roberts 2003:207)
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Yoshimoto writes,
Japanese term for god kami actually does not mean God or the
Creator. In Christian literature kami is given the biblical concept.
There kami is somewhat equivalent to angels or children of gods. ll
Cor 3:18 we read that we are going to be changed into the glory of
the Lord . I think this state of human beings seem to be far higher
than the state of kami” (Yoshimoto 1987:138).
He also wrote that the Japanese concept tamashii
魂しい
for soul should
be redefined. Tama
魂
is originally a notion for mystic power in nature.
Therefore the concept of personality is vague. According to the image of Christ
the concept of personality must be clarified. The understanding of personality is
also important in terms of the community. “They must find the balance of
individuality and community” (Yoshimoto, 1987:38 ).
4.3.3 Sheol, Hades and Paradise
Traditional Japanese religion teaches that 49 days after death the dead
pass through mountains and cross a river before being judged by Emma, the
lord of hell. The world of the dead is referred to as Ano yo
あの世
“that world.”
Also referred to as shigo no sekai
死後の世界
the world of the dead, Yomi no
kuni
読みの国
land of darkness. Spirits of the dead gradually lose their
individuality after the 33rd year anniversary of death and merge with spirits of
the ancestors and reside in the mountains in Yama no kuni
山の国
Biblical progressive revelation in the OT teaches first an intermediate
state. Sheol is a place under or in the earth: (Prov 9:18, Ps 55:15) Personal
and national identity are kept (Ezek 32 and Isa 14:9), but the dead are only
shadows of what they were on earth. Man becomes a rephaim, disembodied
spirit, or shade. (Prov 2:18; Isa14:9, Job 26:5). Death was not annihilation.
Sheol is the opposite of life, an existence separated from God, and life is
a blessed condition. Those in the OT who died did not all go to Sheol. God
speaks of the patriarchs as being alive (Ex 3:6). David was assured of dwelling
in the house of the Lord forever and the godly went to be with God, such as
Moses and Elijah. (Pss 23:6, 17:15) So it would appear that there were two
parts, a division in Sheol.
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Jesus promised paradise to the thief beside him on the cross. The word
paradise paradeisoV is loaned from Middle Iranian paradez, “a garden or a
place of blessedness” (Strand 2004:136). Jesus used the word “today”,
shμeron, giving a temporal meaning of time, not a figurative meaning.
It is a pity that the question of ancestor practices, which seems to be
widespread all over the world, has not caused more scholarship on the parable
of the rich man and Lazarus as Jesus told it in Luke 16:19-31. It is possible that
Jesus used a common Jewish story and reworked it to teach his hearers. The
idea of Hades (used in the NT to denote Sheol) is borrowed from a folk-tale, yet
Jesus utilized it in a biblically faithful way because of the manner in which he
told it. He has “given it a stamp of His own” (Regalado 2003:345). There is a
clear distinction made between Hades and Paradise.
Care needs to be taken that we do not limit the revelation on the afterlife
to Luke 16. Ladd in The Last Things (cited by Strand) argues that because
Luke 16:19-31 is a parable we should not take this to be definitive revelation
about the afterlife (Strand 2004:136), yet two conditions are implied which
describe a degree of either punishment or reward. With Erickson we would
agree that although it might not be a doctrinal statement, He nevertheless would
not lead us astray on this important point. (Strand 2004:137)
What is clear, is that one could not cross from the one side to the other.
Also the possibility of help from earth was ruled out. Lazarus was in a position
of comfort and love in Abraham’s bosom kslpwn, and the rich man’s condition
was the opposite where he is suffering in great pain. Morey wrote,
Peter says that the wicked are “kept” unto the day of judgement.
This word is in the present, active, infinitive form, which means that
the wicked are being held captive continuously. Second, Peter says
that the wicked are “being tormented: This word is in the present,
passive, participle form and means that the wicked are continuously
being tormented as an on-going activity” (Strand 2004:38).
There is awareness of others, on both sides of the chasm and of those
living. There is a possibility of communication, but restrictions are placed on
this. “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets they will not be convinced
even if someone rises from the dead”, ‘indicates little or no opening for any
dead to communicate with the living’, but it would seem this does not exclude
communication from the dead, but emphasizes that the dead will not listen to
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any warnings and that it is indeed too late for such warnings. (Strand 2004:
138) Howard Marshall takes the view that the main intent of the passage is to
show the finality of Hades. (Strand 2004:139) Again, this is important because
of Japanese practices that are intended to give progression towards nirvana.
Regalado quotes Plummer:
But it is no purpose of the parable to give information about the
unseen world. The general principle is maintained that bliss and
misery after death are determined by conduct previous to death; but
the details of the picture are taken from Jewish believers as to the
condition of souls in Sheol, and must not be understood as
confirming those beliefs. The properties of bodies are attributed to
souls in order to enable us to realize the picture. (Plummer, 344)
Luke implies that “after a person dies his or her condition is irreversible”
(Regalado 2003:345). This is a necessary consequence of their respective
conditions in this life and nothing after death can change it. Verse 26 shows
that after death the character cannot be changed. “The motif of the finality of
reversals in this parable is strongly evoked.” (Regalado 2003:345) Regalado
pointed out that Jesus spoke of people’s obedience to the Scripture as the
turning-point which decided their eternal destiny. Luke 16:31 This is important
in the Japanese context regarding kuyoo, the chanting of the sutras to make
merit for the deceased and also concerning karma, where the actions of the
person determines afterlife conditions.
This parable has not received the attention that the Good Samaritan and
the Prodigal Son has, and what studies have been done, have been concerning
whose extra-biblical stories this parable is the paralleled. The “distinctive
features of the parable has been overlooked” (Regalado 2003:341). For the
Jews too, to care for the dead was a primary obligation, so it is fitting that Jesus
told this parable.
From an African perspective, where ancestors are also important, Igboin
writes that although the rich man, who traditionally would be loving and
hospitable to his family, he was unable to secure them a better future alternative
for his relatives. He didn’t have power, “unlike the African ancestor, to
communicate directly or indirectly with his brothers to warn them of the
impending suffering that awaited them should they refuse to repent of their
riotous life. Heb 9:27 “It is appointed that man should die once and afterwards
judgement” (Igboin 2005:263).
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Igboin points out that to them too, the idea that death is not the end but a
transition in the rites of passage, changing status and a further life with the
living dead. Death is not extinction but it is a “separation, transition and reincorporation”
(Igboin 2005:259). Care of the dead is important in Africa too.
“A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no
satisfaction in life and in the end does not even get a decent burial, I say he
would have been better off born dead.” Ecc 6:33ff The big difference,
compared with the Japanese traditional view, is that in Africa there are
monotheistic beliefs, whereas there is a future of cosmic oneness, unrelated to
the Creator in Japan.
4.3.4 Heaven and the Resurrection
“But our citizenship is in heaven.” Phil 3:20 Being in Christ is a
continuous state, not ceasing at physical death. Gal 2:20, Rom 6:22, Cor 6:19,
Rom 6:1-6, Col 2:12-13, Gal 2:11, 9,20. In the NIV there are 422 entries where
heaven or heavens are mentioned and 737 for earth. The Hebrew samayim
and the Greek oμanos are used. This NT word depicts the glorious future
resurrection life. Arthur Roberts gave the following ways in which heaven is
used in the Bible:
The skies above the earth; the abode of God; a synonym for God’s
will; the total reality; the locus of revelation; the capital of God’s
kingdom; the ultimate judiciary; the repository for prayer; petitions;
the place where saints go for eternal life; the energizing centre for
natural phenomena; the standard for righteousness and social order;
the purposive context for historical events; the archives for good
deeds; the container for modes of existence; the future reality; the
arena for the struggle between good and evil and the furnace for
reshaping the cosmos. (Roberts 2003:4-5)
Roberts saw heaven “as a reality located within creation, of which the
cosmos itself is the part now open to our (limited) understanding.” (Roberts
3003:1) He sees heaven as signifying the divine driving force behind
space/time reality, embodying the foundation and goal for the cosmos.” He also
saw heaven as having continuity with the created order and that the renewed
heaven and earth, characterised by righteous character and providing increased
dimensions for fuller life. (Roberts 2003:34)
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When writing for pantheists we need to remember that for them there is
“no heaven that God rules, other than the present universe. There is no God
who judges the sinful” (Takamizawa 2003:39). Pantheists long for the
immanence of the transcendent God, yet issues of life after death, which are
crucial to them, remain elusive. (Takamizawa 2003:47).
Yoshimoto writes that “the Japanese think that they will go back to the
ancestors”. Isobe called it a reversion to the ancestors. Therefore the concept
of time could be biased by past orientation. “Reversion to the ancestors” must
be transformed to reversion or conversion to the Father. God the Father is not
only the Originator, but also the Completer and the Eternal One “(Yoshimoto
1987:140). He makes the interesting statement that Japanese history must be
rewritten in terms of salvation history. Especially the Japanese mythology must
be accepted as unhistorical stories even though some accounts probably
indicate historical events.of history, God intervenes human history and judges it”
(Yoshimoto 1987:140).
Igboin tells of the Yoruba of Nigeria whose eschatological belief features
“relatives and associates who have gone before and come to meet them in
rejoicing welcome” (Igboin 2005:264).
Life in heaven leads us to the Biblical teaching of the resurrection of the
body. “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to
be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of
those who have died” 1 Cor 15. “I have a hope in God – a hope that they
themselves also accept – that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous
and the unrighteous” Acts 24:15.
Our view of the resurrection of the body is based on the resurrection of
Jesus, the event which is central to history and kingdom spirituality. Justin, the
2nd century Samarian scholar had a holistic view of human nature, which agreed
with Moltmann, the German scholar “the human being lives wholly, the whole
human being dies, God will wholly raise the human being” (Roberts 2003:78).
The idea of bodily resurrection is basically foreign to Japanese, brought up to
the idea of oneness in nirvana, basically a spiritual, non-physical idea. The
resurrection of Jesus is often cited as a difficulty for belief by Japanese.
Initially, it is not attractive and very foreign.
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4.3.5 Hell and Judgement
“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into
eternal life” (Matt 25:26). A Japanese proverb reads: “It’s only when the lid of
the coffin is closed that a person’s life is evaluated. (Kan o ooite
kotosadamaru)”
Hell was originally geenna, the name of the Jerusalem valley where
children were sacrificed to Moloch. The meaning later was associated with final
judgement and was so used by Jesus. God’s holiness is here revealed in his
righteous wrath.
Ordinary Japanese rarely speak of hell and are mostly universalists in
common belief, because Amida Buddha will save all. Funeral Buddhism has
given a way for all to reach nirvana and the thought that any relative would end
up in hell is too much for the Japanese psyche to cope with. If the finality of hell
and judgement were preached more – it is socially a very difficult thing to do
here, maybe a better attitude would develop towards personal evangelism. (But
discontenteds would leave the church too.) It should be noted that Buddhism
teaches the notion of hell and most are familiar with the idea of Emma, the lord
of hell dispensing judgement.
4.3.6 Purgatory?
Views of purgatory need to be visited as it has meaning in the Japanese
view of the afterlife. Views of the interim state include the following: “A state of
limbo; a punitive purgatory; final sanctification at death; complete earthly
sanctification, thus no transitional state needed; hell as ultimate purgation;
purgatory as preparation” (Yoshimoto 1987:146). Hell as purgation: those who
believe that God’s love will ultimately overpower the most recalcitrant sinners.
As preparation: fearing antinomianism, some Christians have held to a more
inclusive understanding of God’s power both to forgive sins and to purge the
disposition to sin.
Theologians throughout the centuries have pondered how persons can
make a proper transition into heaven, how they can be perfected in faith, how
they can be made holy. Is sanctification sufficient, or is something more
required before admission to heaven? An interim or transitional state is
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perhaps required to prepare people for eternal things. Assume 3 things: first,
that there will be an interim time before the final judgement (see l Thess 4:13))
second, that most persons enter heaven with lots of worldly baggage to unload
at the gate and hence need help overcoming a moral or spiritual shortfall; and
third, that God will do whatever is needed on behalf of persons whose hearts
are right. (Roberts 2003:57)
The medieval church, (Protestant Christians rejected the doctrine of
punitive purgatory and indulgences), generally concluded that in death:
believers are instantaneously purified from whatever remains of sinful
propensity or habit. The righteousness of Christ suffices. Robert Barclay a 17th
c theologian, challenged the Westminster Confession which asserted that no
one can keep God’s commandments perfectly, that even the best actions,
thoughts and prayers of the saints are impure and polluted. The Holy Spirit
cleanses believers from the body of death and gives power to overcome sin.
John Wesley taught that although most people who have died in faith have not
been perfected in love, he believed that at death, entire sanctification must
occur, why not sooner for those who seek it?
4.3.7 The Communion of Saints
In the Lutheran reformers Confessio Agustana’s Article XXI, dealing with
faith and doctrine, the right veneration of the saints (departed Christians) is
dealt with: they are to “be recollected in order to serve as examples for
Christians in faith and conduct.” There is no Biblical basis for asking their help
through prayer, “Jesus being our only mediator to whom we bring all our
supplications” (Berentsen 1985:168). The corresponding article in the Apology
states that there is the possibility of the saints praying, together with the angels,
for the living church, just as living Christians do. There is no evidence for this in
Scripture however. This attempt to include the dead in mediation is refuted in
the Confutation.
The living and the dead in Christ are partaking in a community which
bridges the chasm of death and is heading towards consummation” (Berentsen
1985:244-245).
It is the opinion of the contextualisation theologian, Fukuda Mitsuo, that
expanding and emphasizing the concept of the communion of saints is too near
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to the idea of departed ancestors to be safely expanded and usefully used in
the Japanese church. Offner however has written about this subject at length.
4.3.8 Family
In 1973 Berentsen’s statistics recorded that one out of 4 Christians
receive stiff opposition on baptism. Experience since then would point to the
number being the same now. The Church has a responsibility to teach and
practice family values, carrying on the tradition of the OT and the NT.
In this section I am indebted to Berentsen’s masterful handling of the
subject in Chapter 3 of Grave and Gospel.
In Genesis 2 we see that man is a social being, but that family institutions
operate in a fallen world. Ex. 20:12 “Honour your father and mother”, is again
emphasized by Jesus in Mark 7: 1-5 and again in Eph 6: 1-4. Jesus, instead of
taking people away from their family, often sent them back to them. Parents are
given a special place of honour in the Decalogue and Barth comments that that
honour is not dependant on the quality of the parents. (Berentsen 1985 225).
In Eph.6:4 parents are commanded to instruct children to know the Lord and
they are not free to behave as they please.
The vertical family in all its generations is shown in the OT and the NT to
be important (Gen 47). The ancestors have a prominent place and the idea of
being buried with the ancestors was important. The unity of the family, in
present and future generations is also seen in the blessings and curses
－ precautionary measures are given to ensure the continuity of the family in Deut.
25:5ff.
Horizontally, there is “the primary solidarity-group of the living
generation” (Berentsen 1985:227). In 1 Tim 5:4 instruction is given for looking
after widows. The Japanese text uses the actual term for filial piety in the older
translation: jibun no kazoku o taisetsu ni shi, oya ni ongaeshi o suru koto. This
biblical teaching is exactly that of the traditional family obligations of ho-on,
repaying of one’s debts. In 2 Tim 1:3 the text is translated using the word
senzo, ancestor here refers not only to one’s parents, but to the forefathers too.
(Berentsen 1985:228) So Japanese values are not alien to Biblical thinking.
Yet, how far does a Christian have to go in obedience in the family? Are
there instances where one does not obey? The OT speaks out against
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individualism, clinging to its rights and freedom. In Micah 7:6 the family
members are criticized for anti-family behaviour and Jesus rejects individual
piety that ignores family obligations. The question of tensions between
individual rights and family obligations is a difficult one for Japanese.
The injunction to love God comes first in the Decalogue. Faith in God as
the ultimate authority above the individual and the family keeps the two in
balance. The new man in Christ is neither slave nor free, male nor female, Gal
3:28, but a slave of Christ, submissive in human relationships, imitating Christ.
The Christian belongs to a natural family and to the family of God without
confusing the two. (Berentsen 1985:242)
On the one hand, it implies that when we approach the problem of
the individual and collective in the family context from the
eschatological point of view, Christianity cannot simply be conceived
of in terms of a revolutionary, ideological movement which breaks the
walls of the Japanese family-structure. Christianity in Japan should
not be identified as the main proponent of some kind of Western,
nuclear family-system introduced as “The Christian family”. Just as
the New Testament Haustafeln testifies to the apostolic affirmation of
the Christians’ ‘concrete position within the process of history.
Christians in the Japanese family context have to affirm their
particular ‘finitude within the social order’. The new life in Christ – the
discipleship’s imitatio Christ in terms of service and self-sacrifice in
love – is to be realized within the framework of the particular familycollective
to which one belongs and within the family-structure of the
social order of which one is a part. Saying this we are not
contradicting or minimizing the possibility of conflict which the
religious aspects of family life cantered around ancestral rites may
create for a Christian. (Berentsen 1985:237).
On the other hand, also in a Japanese family-structure, Christianity
brings about a motion that changes existing orders from within. The
point we just made does not mean that Christianity may be employed
as an effective force for the conservation of old structures, because
after all – one might think – a patriarchal, extended family-system
seems more akin to the structures of the Bible than does the
individualistic, nuclear family of the West. As we have seen, in
Christian thinking, the family as such is put decisively into
eschatological perspective by being subordinate to the lordship of
Christ and the individual members of the family – each in one’s
particular position sharing in the new creation in Christ through faith –
is a disciple living the daily struggle of imitatio Christi. Thus the
change that takes place from within is not a simple, once-and-for-all
substitution of an old set of structures with a new one. Rather is it a
process that reveals itself in changes towards an ever greater
realization of a family-fellowship in reciprocal service and self87
sacrifice of the one for the other under the common authority of the
lordship of Christ. (Berentsen 1985:237- 238).
From the above arguments about the family, one could say that covenant
theology would seem to be of great value in Japan, where God’s interest in
generations of families is emphasized. The theology of the family is something
the church should be exploring, both in education, practice and in missionary
practice.
As was seen in the focus groups, the abiding reason for ancestor
practices is not religious, but social, in agreement with Chua who wrote in 2005.
“it is precisely the non-religious aspects of the ancestral tradition that have
withstood the battering forces of ‘ secularisation’ (Chua 2005b:34).
Chapter 3 has shown what indigenous Japanese Christian groups are
doing, especially in the area of Ancestor Practices, what the churches, missions
and seminaries are teaching and practicing as regards to the afterlife. In
chapter 4 the concept of Contextualisation in the Japanese church is explored
before we attempt any actual contextualisation of the after-life in the last
chapter.
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5 CONTEXTUALISATION, HIBACHI METAPHOR
CHAPTER 5 CONTEXTUALISATION, HIBACHI METAPHOR
In this chapter we will confirm the necessity for contextualisation in Japan,
survey the most useful models of contextualisation, consider syncretism and
dual systems, and discuss the way in which Japanese see theology and
religious truth. The writings of Japanese will be given preference.
5.1 Failure and New Ways of Doing Theology
We need to communicate the gospel at the worldview level of the
Japanese if we are to make an impact on Japanese society. Contextualising
has been done by missionaries; done and not disseminated. The biggest
problem is that most missionaries cannot read the kanji and understand the
vocabulary at the level required to understand the Japanese theologians who
have written. Uchimura Kanzoo wrote “We might receive germs of the truth
from abroad, but we cannot save both ourselves and our fellow men with the
truth which has not been cultivated at the bottom of our heart. Japanese
Christianity is not a Japanese religion, Japanese Christianity is the Christian
truth explained from a standpoint peculiar to the Japanese” (Miura Hiroshi
1996:66).
Kearney’s definition of worldview is a people’s “way of looking at reality”.
A world view
consists of basic assumptions and images that provide a more or
less coherent thought, not necessarily accurate way of thinking about
the world. A world view comprises images of Self and of all that is
recognized as non-Self, plus ideas about relationship between them,
as well as other ideas. (Nishioka 1997:37).
Traditional Japanese religions have actually been successfully
indigenising over the centuries – shuugo
習合
– Shintoo and Buddhism moving
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together dialectically, backwards and forwards. Christianity has found
contextualisation hard to accomplish.
5.1.1 Self-Theologising
The church, being bound by the need and desire for theological
orthodoxy, has found it more difficult to self-theologise. This is a term coined by
Paul Hiebert. Unfortunately, missionaries have often thought that if the Three-
Self model of Rufus Anderson and Henry Venn were followed that
indigenisation was complete. Self-theologising is forgotten. (Song Minho
2005:12) Yoshimoto commented that missions moved from the Three Self’s
theory into the direction of the cultural identity of the younger churches, then
enlarging to self-hood, including politics, economics and social innovation. Now
the selfhood of the church is beginning to deal with the fourth Self: selftheologising.
The Tokyo Missions Research Institute is leading Japan in this
and numbers of young Japanese are studying Missiology overseas and writing
dissertations from a Japanese point of view.
Contextualising was done during the war by the United Church and has
perhaps been the reason why Japanese theologians have mostly, until the 60’s
and 70’s, kept to other branches of theology. The following was produced to
show support for the war effort.
(1) Since Mikuni (kingdom of the emperor) and Mikuni (kingdom of God) are
pronounced in the same way, serving the emperor and cooperation in
Japan’s advance into China serves the advancement of the kingdom of God.
(1) The emperor and Christ are identical, otherwise Japanese would not believe
in Christianity.
(2) For the Japanese, if not for Westerners, Shintoist ancient writings such as
Kojiki and Nihonshoki are the Old Testament.
(3) Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, and the god Amenominakanushi no
kami of the Kojiki are identical.
(4) As it is written in the Old Testament, especially in the book of Isaiah, the
mission of the Japanese is to restore Israel, and the war against China is
part of that mission (Furuya 1997:57).It must be added that the Nihon
Kirisuto Kyoodan apologized for this theologizing and its part in supporting
the war effort.
David Lewis wrote in The Unseen Face of Japan (1993:289) that Aikawa
and Leavenworth related a story which was told by Father Organtino, a Roman
Catholic missionary to Japan in the mid-16th century. He had a vision of the
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indigenous gods of the country. One of them, a minor deity, told him how they
absorb, but change the foreign gods out of all recognition into Japanese ones.
This spirit concluded by commenting, ‘Perhaps in the long run, your Christian
God will be changed into an indigenous god of this country. As Chinese and
Indian gods were once changed, the Western god must likewise be changed…
beware of us.’” Efforts to contextualise have sometimes been disastrous. How
do we contextualise with fidelity to the Scriptures?
5.1.2 Culture and Theology
Students of contextualisation need first to look at culture, then theology.
In 2007is the role culture in the shaping of theology seen any clearer than
before? Geertz defines culture as that “system of inherited conceptions
expressed in symbolic forms by means of which people communicate,
perpetuate and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life”
(Bevans 2003:6).
Bevans spoke of theology as having 3 sources: Scripture, tradition and
present human experience - the context. (Tradition is interpreted as being the
Christian theological past.) He also says that we cannot speak of “one, right,
unchanging theology. We can only speak about a theology that makes sense at
a certain place and in a certain time” (Bevans 2003:4). Context includes the
experience of a person’s or group’s personal life, which is possible only within
the context of culture and in terms of a person’s location. This context is not
static and is affected by modernity and the idealism of modernity.
He agreed with Bouillard that a theology that is not reflexive of our times,
our culture and our current concerns – and so contextual – is also a false
theology. Bediako stated that ”the universal character of the Gospel lies in the
fact that it tests all cultures, but also in the fact that it allows every people to
make their contribution to the kingdom of God” (Dyrness 1993:66).
Nowhere else do we see the need to really connect with the Japanese
culture as in this thorny question of ancestor practices. (Geertz recommends a
thick description) (Schreiter 1985:28). Oduyoye pointed out that Nile basin
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(Ethiopian) Christianity may have survived because it reflected the primal
religion of that region.
James and Johnson correctly commented that
Christianity does not necessarily spread as an organic entity; partial
elements, themes and practices, are characteristically taken up by a
particular culture or civilization, ethnic, class or interest group, at a
particular time (Swanson & Chillson 2006:126).
Bevans says that this use of the context is a departure from the traditional
way of doing theology. Flemming would disagree with this, as he showed so
clearly in “Contextualisation in the New Testament”, that the New Testament
was a completely contextualised book. (Flemmings:2005)
5.1.3 Compelling Factors for Contextualising
In 2007 two sets of factors compel us to do contextual theologising once
more. The external being general dissatisfaction in the South with classic
approaches to theology, the oppressive nature of earlier theologies, the growing
identity of local churches, the social sciences’ contribution to our understanding
of culture. Internal factors are the incarnational nature of Christianity, the rich,
diverse, universal nature of the church. Bevans here mentioned the
revitalization of Trinitarian theologising, but this would be a stumbling block,
rather than a help in Japan as the main description of Christianity that everyone
can express is “Christianity, oh yes, the Trinity” and the idea is very off-putting
and puzzling to the polytheistic Japanese
5.1.4 Who Does Contextualising?
Who does this contextual local theology? Can the foreign missionary?
Bevans feels the answer, from one point of view is “No”. Yet in limited ways, to
a certain extent, those who do not share the full experience of the other are able
to contribute to contextual theology (Bevans 2003:9) The outsider’s etic
description may be phenomenological, but he is “setting the stage for
explanation” (Schreiter 1985:58). He can provide a counterpoint in his critique
of a situation, he can stimulate people from the culture to do their theologising.
Humility and honesty is necessary. Bob Goldman disagrees and states that
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“foreigners are unreliable guides for what is appropriate for believers in a
particular ethno-religious situation” (Goldman 2006:12). In the beginning, the
theologian’s knowledge is necessary. Later, when Japanese cultural difficulties
of hierarchy (that prevents change and innovation, lack of freedom for free
speech) that prevents natives from doing the contextualising, the foreigner is
still needed. Despite paternalism dangers, the local church can turn on itself
and become self-satisfied; so the link to the world-wide church is needed. Lifelong
local leadership can be just as oppressive as foreigners and not “see”
(Schreiter 1985:20). Key questions in an outer description should be: What is
the purpose of the translation of the sign system?” Who is being served by this
translation? How is the translation being authenticated (Schreiter 1985:59)?
Emic analysis may not always be the best, especially when there has not
been opportunity to experience other cultures and gain perspective. The
structuralist, Claude Levi-Strauss discounted the value of native exegesis,
especially when it goes into the “deep, unconscious structures that govern
change and identity in a culture” (Schreiter 1985:41). Charles Taylor wrote that
the native’s point of view is not always perfectly adequate or that “it cannot be
corrected from the outside” (Dyrness 1992:1). He suggests a middle-way,
neither ethnocentric or incorrigible, the interpretive view. One seeks to find a
means of understanding and description that challenges the observer and the
native. A dialogue between the two could be mutually corrective. Benjamin
Nelson has argued that because of the inter-connectedness of the global world
that all knowledge will be cross-cultural in the future.
Inner and outer descriptions are necessary: inner descriptions
provide the sign systems that make up the identity of a people; outer
descriptions help with social change, and with linkage to the larger
reality of the Christian church (Schreiter, 1985:59).
But the record of serious evangelical interaction with the major religions
has not been good. Many Western missionaries are sent to Asian countries
with superficial preparation. (As borne out in my survey of missions.) Because
they think a-historically, in terms of belief-systems, they have not taken
Christian or other religions’ historicity seriously.
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Bevans went on to say that we can do contextual theology from a
redemption-centred (the human experience is in need of radical transformation)
or a creation-centred perspective. His favour towards the latter is built on his
view that creation is sacramental, that human experience is good, that this
world is where God reveals God, very much like Rahner’s “anonymous
Christianity” and Panikkar’s “unknown Christ of Hinduism. It is the same kind of
thinking that produced the Shintoo/Christian thinking of the wartime United
Church. Gilland speaks of bringing elements of the cultural milieu under the
lordship of Christ. The church must “challenge, incorporate and transform, the
elements of culture so as to bring these under the lordship of Christ” (Song
2005:13). The receptor’s mind is not empty or free and needs to go through a
hard battle for Scripture’s truths to be internalised.
What are the criteria that would prevent us mixing Christianity and culture
in a way that would compromise us? Schreiter, in “Constructing Local
Theologies” gave five criteria. There should be inner consistency, it should be
translatable into worship, practice should be ethical and non-oppressive, it
should be open to criticism from other churches and it should be able to
challenge other theologies. Much has been written on contextualisation per se,
but it is the way it is practised that is lacking, not the theory. Before actual
contextualisation, we will look at models to assist us in clearer thinking.
5.2 The Use of Models
Dulles described a model as “a relatively simple, artificially constructed
case which is found to be useful and illuminating for dealing with realities that
are more complex and differentiated (Bevans 2003:29). Models that do not
supply intelligible explanations of phenomena in one model can be found in
another model. Different models give a unique way of theologising that takes a
certain context seriously. Although models are distinct, they can be used in
tandem with others. Bevans felt that only one should not be used exclusively as
this will distort the theological enterprise. He describes the Translation, the
Anthropological, the Praxis, the Synthetic, the Transcendental and the Counter
cultural models in his book, “Models of Contextual Theology”. Nishioka, the
Japanese missiologist, argued that actual missionary activities and human
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experiences cannot be encapsulated in one unified single theory and any one
theory cannot foretell actual human experience with certainty. For reasons of
suitability to Japan we review the Translation, the Anthropological and the
Synthetic Models.
5.2.1 The Translation Model
The most often employed model is the Translation model and the
Adaptation model. Kraft said that this is a recovery of the original spirit of
Christian theologising. The message of the Bible is seen as an unchanging
message. (Acts 17) Kraft “suggested that the dynamic-equivalence approach
might be extended beyond Bible translation to become a theological procedure”
(Schreiter 1985:l7). It is often used first by missionaries in urgent situations,
allowing ”some initial missionary adaptation to the local culture”.
This model teaches that “something” must be “put into” other terms. The
key presupposition is that the gospel is supra-cultural. The supra-contextual
message can be separated from the contextual mode of expression. The
starting point is the supra-contextual message, which affects culture and social
context, ”putting the gospel into”, (Bevans 2003:40). The basic structure of all
cultures is also presupposed. The translation model takes Scripture seriously, it
sees the ambivalence of contextual reality, can be used by anyone committed
to a particular culture.
Criticisms would be that it is a positivist approach, assuming “that culture
can be quickly decoded and understood by foreigners. There may not be
cultural parallels or the same significance in both cultures. (e.g . bells and
drums) Space prevents a discussion about whether there is such a thing as the
“naked gospel” and Krikor Haleblian suggested that “culture is more like an
onion with various layers” (Bevans 2003:43). Instead of finding an essential
core, (the kernel and husk idea - the onion idea is better) the aim is to discover
cultural patterns that can incarnate Christian existence and meaning” (Bevans
2003:43). Another criticism is that revelation is not propositional, but the
manifestation of God’s presence in life and society, the Bible representing that
record of manifestation in particular times and society, Israel and the early
Christian era.
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Numbers of theologians practise this model, but Hesselgrave is
mentioned because of his experience as a missionary to Japan for 12 years.
He chooses the Translation model, but his approach seems “to be limited to the
first encounter with a non-Christian culture” (Bevans 2003:45) probably
stemming from his missionary experience. He mentions “the source, the act of
encoding, the message, the act of decoding the message and the receiver”
(Bevans 2003:45-46). The core teaching is put into terms the receptor can
understand.
5.2.2 The Anthropological Model
Justin Martyr taught that other religions and cultures contain “seeds of
the word” and here the Anthropological Model recognizes the value of human
culture, the human person; it makes use of anthropological science, provides
fresh perspectives of Christianity. It starts where the people are - searching for
treasures in the culture. At the heart of this model is sacramentalist Catholic
thinking. The primacy of culture is recognized. Culture shapes the way
Christianity is articulated. It sees Scripture and tradition as a “series of local
theologies” (Bevans 2003:59).
The weakness here is that often the local theology is not carried out
beyond the first couple of steps. Identified problems and questions may be
addressed, but dialogue has not yet continued. In seeking to maintain identity
and stability, conflictual factors are overlooked for the sake of keeping harmony.
(This is where we are in Japan.) The model becomes a conservative force,
instead of a force for needed change. Another danger is cultural romanticism,
where critical thinking about the culture is not done as it also requires great
effort and it does not happen by serendipitous discovery. Also much of the
cultural analysis can only be done by experts and not at grassroots. A close
working dialectic between Biblical traditions and local cultural traditions will
avoid these dangers.
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5.2.3 The Synthetic Model
This model endeavours to balance the insights of the Translation, the
Synthetic and the Praxis Model (which has a strong epistemological basis) and
also the Counter-cultural model which provides strong context and gospel
fidelity. This model mentions translating the faith into other cultural contexts,
but seems to go beyond the Translation model, “in that it acknowledges mutual
enrichment of cultures” (Bevans 2003:89).
The importance of reflection and intellectual activity to theologise is
necessary - there is a synthesis with one’s own cultural viewpoint and those of
others, and it develops a creative dialectical, acceptable to them. Here every
context has unique elements and common elements with others. Therefore
cultures can borrow and learn from other cultures and still be unique. Content
is ambivalent, some features being neutral, some good and some bad
Schreiter argued that out of a thick description of listening to the culture
for basic patterns and structures and analysis to find its basic symbol system,
basic themes for local theology will emerge and be understood to be operative
in one’s own context, calling for transformation and social change. We are
warned that the inculturation of theology cannot be limited to the ‘first insertion’
of a faith into a culture. Contextualisation needs to become an attitude, coping
with ongoing change. Dialoguing with the North churches will give South
churches a sense of equal status.
Interestingly, Koyama Kosuke, the Japanese missionary to Thailand, and
others such as Vitaliano Gorospe, Jose de Mesa, Aylward Shorter and Charles
Nyamiti used this model.
Koyama has a creative and imaginative way of doing theology, which
might not even be classified as theology by some western theologians, but
perfectly intelligible and valid to Japanese. Koyama “tends to see the possibility
of a supracultural message, a ‘universal word’ that can become meaningful (and
so translated) when it is spoken with reverence to a particular cultural and
religious context” (Bevans 2003:97). Bevans found more than just a translation
of doctrinal categories into the Asian cultural world – he finds a strong dialectic
between a high sensitivity to cultural reality and the strong sense of gospel truth.
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A real dialogue is progressing with Buddhist values, which are treated with
respect and also critiqued by the gospel. “Mt Fuji and Mt. Sinai” bears out this
attitude. “Japanese world-negating Buddhism and Judaeo-Christian tradition
have positive points that need the benefit of a two-way traffic between them”
(Bevans 2003:98).
5.3 Syncretism and Dual Systems
Before going on to a contextualisation that is suitable to Japan, we
examine the question of syncretism and dual systems. Syncretism is hard to
define. Louis Luzbetak offers “a theologically untenable amalgam” and it is a
good one.
Bevans lists 3 kinds of syncretism. (1) that which is practised on the NE
coast of South America and the Caribbean, where Christian deity and saints are
synthesized; (2) where Christian elements and non-Christian elements are
blended, using a Christian framework, such as the IEC of Africa, Rastafarians
and the cargo movement; ( 3) where the system is highly selective in its use of
Christian elements, such as the New Religions of Japan.
In these forms of syncretism, Christianity is given a new reality with the
basic framework given by the other tradition; (2) where the framework is given
by Christianity for the syncretistic system, then reinterpreted and independently
reshaped; (3) where only selected Christian elements are incorporated.
Dual systems need examination because this is the situation in Japan
with ancestral practices and Christian practices observed alongside each other.
He lists 3 kinds of dual systems: (1) where the Christian and other tradition
operates side by side, with many native American groups in both North and
South America. People follow 2 sets of rituals, seeing no contradiction; (2)
selected elements of another system, plus traditional Christianity is practised –
local leaders see these as contradictory, but the people, in time of stress will
revert to the original religion; (3) often seen in Asia where citizenship and a
religious tradition are inextricably bound up. Religious tradition and culture are
so interwoven that it is difficult to see the boundaries. The Japanese have a
particular problem with (2) and (3).
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In the first, the tradition and Christianity are seen as two distinct entities,
in the second, Christian elements are primary with selected elements from the
local tradition practised separately; in the third, Christians try to be faithful to
their national identity and to Christ.
Questions that arise are ones concerning the original conversion of the
person and what is religion? In fact, what is religion to this person? Barth’s
faith and religion distinction is not helpful as in some countries there is no word
for “religion” and a faith system is seen as a way of life, another one merely
expanding one’s quality of life. Another question is about the seriousness of our
contextualisation? Can world-view and group boundaries easily be forsaken
and do we tolerate the product of true contextualisation – the heart of the
culture – and not just “the equivalent of an artificial heart”
True preaching of the gospel will effect change, but how deep?
Behaviour change, social change, but also semiotic change, introducing the
new message without creating change in the sign system. An incomplete
coming together of the gospel and the church could be the cause of syncretism
or a dual system. Why do certain people seem quite happy to live in a dual
system? Christianity has often borrowed ceremonies from other traditions over
the centuries, could it be that now the same thing is happening much faster and
in too many places – “who determines what is proper and improper borrowing?”
(Schreiter1985:151).
An incomplete existential encounter between two systems results in
syncretism or dual systems. Using the principles of the Anthropological Model,
we look at it from the point of view of the dynamics of culture change in the
culture. It could be that the church/missions do not deeply understand the
culture – as in Japan.
5.3.1 Ways of Encounter
The first manner of incorporation is to look at similarities between sign
systems of Christianity and the culture. “Analogous” elements of the invading
culture such as holy water, prayers, healing, communion of the saints are seen
as similar to signs in the local culture and are taken over, according to its own
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codes and then could bear its own messages. So Christian signs of grace were
understood then as signs of local power. (Perhaps one reason why Japanese
theological principals adamantly refused the idea of a substitute for the
butsudan. “Japanese easily see these things as magical.” Missionaries see
these signs as being helpful, as the easiest method of accommodation, not
realizing that the signs now bear different meanings. (A Translation Model
difficulty.) They are lulled into thinking that quick contextualisation has occurred
since parallels are played upon.
Another manner of incorporation is that of filling gaps: problems that are
not being properly solved in a culture is catered for when the invading culture
provides signs and even codes for dealing with these problems. Hori
mentioned Buddhism more successfully dealing with the question of the spirits
of the dead than Shintoo did. Not only does the sign carry the meaning, but
also codes are involved in filling the gap.
Indiscriminate mixing happens when the receiving culture is at a “low
level of social and cultural organisation” (Schreiter 1985:153). and it is
susceptible to new sign systems, codes and messages. Here the problem is
that the culture will often reconstitute the new sign systems to agree with its
entire culture. A resilient culture will produce indiscriminate mixing which
Christians often label “syncretism”, especially where the culture wants to use
Christianity’s signs, mixing will be acute. Here the dynamics are the clearest.
The Japanese are famous for being able to do this. Historically and culturally
we seem to be in this kind of social condition.
Domination is another manner of incorporation where the local culture is
in a weakened state regarding signs and the invading culture’s sign system
takes over, replacing the local signs.
British social anthropology sees dual systems growing out of “culture
clash”, not “acculturation.” Why does this happen? Firstly, because of an
incomplete encounter with the invading culture, if the culture does not feel that
the incoming culture’s signs are dealing with the same issues which its own sign
systems are signalling. So real contact is not established and it remains a
foreign system – the accusation of most Japanese about Christianity. This
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could be caused by a lack of sufficient contact, through a lack of the sign
systems making contact with one another. This has happened in Japan “where
many missionaries never achieved the linguistic ability to bring about a genuine
contact” (Schreiter 1985:155). More importantly maybe, that there is often not
heart’s communication occurring, apart from linguistic ability. A closely related
reason is that the local culture’s sign system’s value is enhanced by the
presence of the invading culture (as during Meiji in Japan and after military
defeat in World War II) when the outsiders are seen as more powerful, and one
needs to placate them, by outward appearances.
Another scenario is that, although there is acceptance of the sign system,
the receiving culture feels that the invading culture’s sign systems cannot
adequately handle all of its problems. So older forms of magic and divination
continue to meet the concrete needs of the believers. Another similar to the
first: the local sign system and the invading sign system are perceived as
dealing with differing things. The person feels that he cannot pray for his
ancestors like a Christian because his ancestors were Buddhist. Only Buddhist
practices provide the right respect. Buddhism will include Christianity, but
Christianity seems to be intolerant of it. Are such limits necessary? So
perceptions are that the invading culture’s sign system is alien, inferior,
inadequate, or not to the point – an accurate way of looking at the Japanese
view of Christianity. (Japanese Christians protest that they do respect the
ancestors, but Japanese feel that the church’s way of memorialising the
ancestors is not adequate.)
How to deal with these perspectives? We need to realize that good
evangelisation will bring about culture change, that religion is a way of life, that
“religion” varies in different cultures, it’s not just a set of ideas. For whom is the
dual system in Japan a problem? Maybe the conversion process takes longer
than we imagined; what we see as “syncretism or a dual system may be but
reflective of the stages of the conversion process.” ”The firm foundations we
experience today were not easily achieved. No doubt they may have looked a
dangerous syncretism to an earlier generation” (Schreiter 1985:157-158). One
only has to read Flemming to see how dangerous the New Testament must
have looked to Jews, Greeks and Romans.
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5.4 Guidelines to Contextualisation in Japan
What are our guidelines in contextualising here? First, the study
examines cautions before listing the guidelines - simple guidelines could be: no
idolatry, no immorality, no injustice or individualism.
5.4.1 Emotion, not Logical Propositions
Yoshimoto states that:
The theology of the Kingdom of God should deal with all necessary
themes in Japan’s culture such as ancestor worship. Apologetics,
epistemology and expression should be appropriate for the Japanese
people. For example power encounter is a very significant point to
apologetics. Emotionality should be considered in terms of
epistemology. Japanese think very emotionally. For example,
Kitamori Kazo “Theology of the Pain of God” can be called emotional
soteriology. Through this emotional concept of pain the Japanese
can really feel the love of God. Concerning expression, concrete
expression is usually very appropriate to the Japanese. In this
respect I think that many Christian theologians must rethink their
style of theology. Mostly, they imitate the styles of western
theologians too much (Yoshimoto1987:145).
Bearing in mind the above 3 models, we need to remember that
Japanese, as Yoshimoto explained above, think in terms of emotion and not in
terms of doctrinal statements. Western Christians may find this strange,
because “it does not fit into their presupposition of the form of truth” (Yoshimoto
1987:25). He argues that theology from the west is the product of long
interaction between Greco-Roman philosophy and Hebraism. “Its rationalistic
character is sometimes inappropriate to the mentality of other cultures”
(Yoshimoto 1987:25).
5.4.2 A Three-Layered World-view
Yoshimoto quotes Munakata
people are living in a world of three layers. The first layer consists of
the symbolic relationship between nature and the human being. This
is a feeling of mystery in nature, a feeling of unity of man and nature.
We can identify it as mythological, cosmological world view like as
(sic) Ko-Shintoo. The second layer consists of the continual
relationship of human spirits. This chain of life includes not only
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living men, but also spirits of the dead ancestors and un-born
descendants. It is a cosmological community of all spirits. These
two levels are often unconscious. The third level is the world of
individuals. It is a world at the conscious level. At this level people
believe in different ideologies or value systems. Munakata brings
clarification here in saying that people live in the great spiritual whole
world at an unconscious level. He defined it as “the Spiritual
Communal Body (Yoshimoto 1987:104-05).
See Hiebert’s similar evaluation below:
FIGURE 3: Hiebert’s Three Layered Model For Analysing Worldview
(Clinton 1986:68) (Yoshioka, 97)
Yet, Yoshimoto, in examination of the Japanese worldview, with
reference to ancestor worship, said that “manipulation of worldview does not
seem to be the right way”. He points to the individual’s power encounter with
Jesus as being more important. (Yoshimoto 1987:148)
5.4.3 Transformation of Ancestor Practices
Ancestor practices are not only changed in some way, but Yoshimoto
wrote that
ancestor worship must be ultimately transformed. In the process of
transformation, we analyse the custom, compare it with the biblical
norm, evaluate it, reject unbiblical elements, find a functional
substitute, find a new form in a transformed worldview and try to
transform it. Thus the ultimate principle would be transformation, but
in a practical procedure of each case we need to employ complex
attitudes (Yoshimoto 1987:135-136).
Person Foundation Process State
Value
Allegiances
Explicit
Belief
and
Value
Systems
Reality as
known and
experienced
in life
Levels
of
analysis
Deep Level Assumption Level Surface Level
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Yoshimoto stated that the Japanese national church should have a right
self-consciousness that she is a part of the universal church, the Body of Christ.
I think that when the Japanese can really identify themselves with the
universal community of the People of God, they can dissolve the old
world view and integrate themselves in to the new world view. This
transformation of the spiritual community seems to be the most
important issue to the Japanese people. Then the Japanese will be
truly liberated from their ethnocentric world view (Yoshimoto
1987:143).
5.4.4 Self-Negation of Western Christianity
More, metamorphosis is needed; the self-negation of Western traditional
Christianity, which is originally an element in Jesus’ crucifixion is necessary.
(Furuya 1997:137) Endo Shuusaku also said “If Christianity was to become
indigenous in non-Christian countries, metamorphosis through self-negation is
necessary” (Furuya 1997:138). The mission that does not anticipate this is
haughty by nature, no matter how humble its attitude may appear towards
indigenous religion.
5.4.5 Japanese View of Religious Truth
People participate in religious activities because of socio-cultural
belongings, not because of well thought out beliefs. Hatsumode
初詣
and obon
are good examples of this: many Japanese people take part in the former
because it is the thing to do at New Year and the latter because of household
obligations. They can therefore pray to the deities and the ancestors because
the situation and circumstance demand it, yet need not express beliefs in either.
Participation thus cuts across religious boundaries. (Nagasawa 2002:53)
5.4.6 Believing Through Doing
Japanese come to believe through doing; not come to doing through
believing. For Japanese, a religion is that which is lived out, and knowing truth
is bound with doing truth. Lived truth, religio vera versus experienced truth,
intellectus verus. (Nagasawa 2002:135) The recent rapid growth of
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charismatic type churches underlines this “Thus for the Pentecostal church,
one’s affirmation of a belief or doctrine is not so much the terminal as a starting
point of the religious life” (Nagasawa, 2002:55).
5.4.7 Not Logic, but Emotion and Intuition
“Unlike the absolute either/or dichotomies of western logic, Japanese culture
– at the implicitor structural level – is based on a “logic of relative
contrasts….[E]ven when religious customs change – at the explicit level of
culture there is a tendency for the original implicit categories to reassert
themselves in a new guise” (Davis 1992:247).
Nagasawa advised that “We must help the targeted people to discover
truth in such a way that it is meaningful for their cultural context. Therefore we
have to examine the cultural background of the targeted people regarding a
concept of religious truth” (Nagasawa 2002:44). Every truth strives for
verification. However, the type of truth that the Japanese seek as being true
and pure in heart is subjective, and seems to be aloof from the verification itself
as well. Indeed, the experimental and critical method of verification is not valid
for this type of truth. Yet, verification of this truth could take place within the lifeprocess
itself. (Nagasawa 2002:61)
Nagasawa went on to give the example of Celtic Christianity, quoting
Hunter, saying that Celtic Christians experienced God as the Triune dweller in
their hearts and companion in daily life, while they emphasized the immanence
of God. Roman Christians exclusively experience the divine presence in the
sacraments, if at all. Analyzing their thinking methods, she writes further that
Celtic Christians predominantly used the right-brain, (same as the Japanese)
that they did well intuiting, feeling imaging and in experiential activities.
(Nagasawa 2002:56)
So while Roman Christianity spoke in concepts, Celtic Christians spoke from
their imaginations to the imaginations of their hearers through poetry and
storytelling. Based on what we have discussed above, we suggest the Spiritcentric,
subjective, sensuous or experiential approach, because the foremost
religious concern of the Japanese is of brightness and purity of heart and openminded
awareness of reality.
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Words and sentences have no fixed meaning, and logic is often
irrelevant. Words have meaning only in relation to who is using them, who they
are talking to, and what situation they are used in. Some positings are indeed
nonsense; other positings appear to be nonsense at first, but this is because the
meaning is all between the lines. Zen and poetry have gone hand in hand for
centuries.
Nagasawa further writes that what Richardson says about the
“postmodern world is cogently valid for Japanese too.‘ Today people often
come to Jesus by first trying to live by his wisdom and follow his lifestyle’”
(Nagasawa 2002:59).
Often theologians focus more on Jesus’ work than on His person. Third
world theologians, in contrast to Western theologians, conceive of it relationally
and communally rather than individualistically (e.g. with concern about defining
Christ’s divine-human nature). (Dyrness 1990:180). People are looking not for
a message to believe in, but for a community to belong to.
5.4.8 Nature, Mono no aware and Wabi
A study of Japanese history, art and literature shows that the Japanese
intuit the eternal present in the ephemeral beauty of nature. This intuitive or
aesthetic sensitivity, in itself, is a religious element and is related to the concept
of religious truth. Sensitivity to beauty is the pathway by which one reaches
religious truth, that is, the eternal present.
As such, it describes a particular orientation of the Japanese to intuitive
experience rather than to objective description or reason as the major mode of
knowing or apprehending reality. Mono-aware
もの
哀れ is a way of
perceiving reality and a mode of being in the world that emphasizes aesthetic
intuition, experiential sensitivity to the invisible and unspoken, openness to
depth and mystery, and appreciation of the pathos of passing beauty.
Theologian Takenaka Masao, who wrote of “Zen-like” experiences where,
not by study but by sudden inspiration, something triggers illumination into the
depths of reality. He believed that such experiences are the secret not only of
our relation to God but also of a new theological method.
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‘Whenever two or three Western theologian are gathered together,
there is argumentation about God,’ he jokes. As an alternative to
this, he proposed the ‘Ah-hah!’ method. In the Bible, he argues,
people did not come to know God by discussion or argument, but by
experiencing him.” “This means developing deep sensitivity toward
the ‘atmosphere: of the place where we live, as the basis for knowing
God” (Dyrness 1990:145-146).
Insight should be provoked, rather than argued. Koyama tells that thinking
in images is not a strategy of communication (like sermon illustrations to drive
home a point); it is a special mode of thought that is at home with proverbs and
parables, which make up evocative power what they lose in precision. (Dyrness
1990:149)
All of Japanese art, grows from a basis characteristic of Japanese life
called wabi.
侘び
This is beauty expressed without pretension, in a meek spirit
and with harmony. Takenaka believes that Christ can best be understood by
Japanese in these terms. He often kept silence, He wept at death, He was
troubled, and He found His friends in table fellowship, Phil 2 (Dyrness 1992:
146). It has been novelists that have captured the value of Christ’s suffering
like Shusaku Endoo, and Miura Ayako.
5.4.9 Ritual not Proposition
Miyake states that ritual is an integral part of Japanese cultural schema,
as the greatest emphasis is not on ideas but on rituals. In general, Indian
thinkers point out, Western thought patterns are fundamentally dualistic,
therefore analysis is the primary mode of critical thought. Eastern patterns
favor non-dualistic modes, therefore thinking tends to be synthetic. (Dyrness
1990:131) In the west we have a tendency towards abstraction and analysis,
the desire for synthesis can again have a role to play – as it is God’s plan to
‘unite”’ Rodrigues Tano said, the idea of non-duallty will “provide a clue to
viewing reality as a whole (Dyrness 1990:161).
In this regard, based on the primacy of action, we would like to suggest a
role or a function of the Bible in the context of the Japanese religiosity. I think it
is more appropriate for the Japanese to define the Bible as the canon designed
for teaching what is to be practiced, than that designed for teaching what to be
accepted as beliefs. In other words, it must be emphasized for the Japanese
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that the Bible is read for the sake of being true by doing. It seems to us that this
suggestion coincides with virtual components of the Bible.
Still another way to suggest poetic reality in Shintoo is to consider the
centrality of ritual action and the importance of direct experience of
the presence of kami (deity) in and through ritual. Shinto ritual is not
only a process of purification (internal and external) but also a
process of waiting for and waiting on the presence of kami in the
tranquil stillness of nature. It demands an experiential sensitivity to
see, hear, or feel the coming and going of kami. As one Shinto priest
told me, Shinto ritual (especially individual worship) is primarily a
matter of waiting in the right state of mind for the coming of kami and
then being a proper host for the sacred guest (Nagasawa 2002:59).
In general, the Japanese begins with form in act, then reaches the
meaning, with respect to religious life. Thus, in introducing the Christian life, it
is necessary to develop such forms of religious practices or rituals for
individuals as Islamic prayer practiced with bowing down every day or prayer
practiced with invocation as in the nembutsu before the altar every morning.
Japanese are highly need and situation-oriented people. There is antecedent
ritual in the history of Christianity applicable to the Japanese context -the Celtic
contemplative prayer - prayer for ordinary, everyday events.
5.4.10 Community, not Doctrine
A movement away from cold doctrine to the warmth of community is
suggested by Nagasawa who has emphasized that
spiritual realizations must be communal and transformational. The
spiritual realizations include a deeper sensitivity to self and others, a
feeling of equanimity toward all, self acceptance, a subtle sense of
the holy, freeness from material attachment, a deep awareness of
human predicament and dignity, genuine compassion and love and
so on. In other words, it is these experiences that help overcome the
negative forces, impulses and tendencies that lie within us. I believe
only Christian fellowship within which the Spirit is active can cultivate
these spiritual experiences within the Japanese as they participate.
In addition, it might be useful to develop Christianized rituals to assist
Japanese people in creating an atmosphere that is helpful for the
spiritual state of mind longing for experiencing divine presence
(Nagasawa 2002:58).
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Strand warns about an age in which truth about reality is hidden forever
and that the refusal of any religion to claim truth is as remarkable as admitting
its own falsity. (Strand 2004:118)
As individuals we are not able to present an objective theology. But
as critical realists, we believe we are dealing with reality, in this case
parts of God’s theology. Thus when we inform and correct each
other in the international hermeneutical community, we get a better
picture of the revealed facts. (Strand 2002:119).
This study has suggested models of contextualisation, examined
syncretism and dual systems and why they occur in Japan. Contextualisation
needs to take into consideration the special phenomena we find in Japan:
those of emotion and ritual taking precedence over logical propositions and
mono no aware and wabi
侘び
that influences Japanese thinking. Logical,
propositional thinking is foreign to Japanese-style thinking. This leads to the
suitability of using poetic tools to contextualise – to the use of metaphor. Ritual
needs to be emphasized, not ‘teaching’ as ‘teaching’ is achieved by ritual. The
schema that holds all together is community – group, warm group interactivity.
We will examine metaphor and how to use it in meaning and form,
constructing contextualisation about the afterlife in the Japanese church.
Emergent themes of memorialism, respect, the ie, gratitude, fear,
interdependence of the living and the dead, ethics, identity, and respect in
ancestor practices, both for traditional Japanese and for Christian Japanese, an
overview of contextualisation, suitable models and the problems of dualism and
syncretism, led to understanding the way contextualisation should occur in
Japan
Here the use of metaphor can set the emotional stage for warm, caring,
discussion by a Japanese group – the metaphor of warmth from the hibachi.
5.5 Metaphor
Japanese use right brain thinking and are susceptible to intuitive thinking,
prefer emotive thinking to logical propositions. Mono aware is revealed in all
Japanese literature, art, architecture and music. Poetry is particularly useful in
this regard. This leads us to make use of metaphor to express meaning in
Japanese contextualisation. Nishioka has written powerfully on this in his
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dissertation “Rice and Bread: Metaphorical Construction of Reality – Towards a
New Approach to World View.” I am indebted to him for this section.
The theory of metaphor can contribute to developing a theology which is
sensitive to tangible human experiences. Metaphor plays a significant role in
integrating these two aspects of human experience, body (practice) and mind
(reflection). Metaphorical mapping which is not a mode or figure of speech, is
one dominant process of construction of new realities. According to this view,
theology can be seen as a human reflection on the scriptures (and/or spiritual
experiences) through recurrent tangible experiences.
. Studies in metaphor are old and yet very contemporary philosophically,
starting with Aristotle to the 1970’s. Aristotle wrote: “a good metaphor implies
an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilar” (Nishioka l997:126) but he
did not provide a distinction between metaphor and simile. Empiricism or
rationalism caused prolonged negligence of the importance of metaphor and
prepositional statements were therefore thought to be the only appropriate way
of coping with objective reality. Johnson wrote that substitution and comparison
theory treats metaphor in a reductionist manner. (Nishioka 1997:127)
Richards’ study has brought about a paradigm shift in the study of metaphor
(Nishioka 1997:128) He proposed a “dynamic perspective for understanding
metaphor as a means of constructing knowledge.” Metaphor is characterized,
he wrote by the interaction between the ‘underlying idea or principal subject
which the vehicle or figure means” (Nishioka 1997:128).
According to Wheelwright, a metaphor “is an active thought process, not
just a simile between two entities, nor a grammatical rule, but rather it is ‘the
quality of semantic transformation that is brought about’ or ’semantic motion’”
(Nishioka 1997:128).
For Sapir, metaphor is a mode of linkage, for Turner, root metaphor is a
function by means of which new knowledge is constructed. Turner’s process
oriented view on metaphor is significant for exploring how people construct
cultural knowledge. (Nishioka 1997:186).
According to the cognitive theory of metaphor, comprehension of
new ideas is attained through the mapping process of certain old
knowledge (source domain) onto the new idea (target domain.) The
construction of new reality is grounded on a receptor’s ability to
evoke certain related knowledge (secondary source) out of mutually
manifested stimuli (primary source) and to discover a certain
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correspondence between correspondence source domain (primary
and secondary and target domain. All these processes are crucial
for both communicator and receptor (Nishioka 1997:214).
Beardsley in 1981 introduced a theory underlining the moment at which one
identifies a metaphor. The step is needed in the exploration of the marginal
meaning – that is, meanings which are implied or associated with a certain word
in various contexts. This involves a shift from the central meaning to the
marginal meaning which is triggered by tension between subject and modifier.
“To understand metaphor is to explore these marginal meanings for discovering
meaningful connections” (Nishioka 1997:31).
Metaphorical process is selective. If one uses “body” as root metaphor for
conceptualising the reality of a local church, specific aspects of social and
relational reality are emphasized, such as: internal unity, harmony in diversity,
authority of head. When this metaphorical process is repeated and shared by a
majority of members, the root metaphor becomes symbol for the group.
(Nishioka 1997:190 ) figure 6-2
In trope theory, metaphor is treated as one mode of linkage in a meaning
system. The focus is, as Sapir suggested,
directed toward patterns of linkage in culturally constructed meaning
systems. (product). Metaphor is viewed as cross-domain linkage
between signifier and signified by means of which symbols are
constructed. At the same time, as Turner (1974) maintained,
metaphor is viewed in terms of the process of constructing
knowledge or meaning” (Nishioka 1997:191).
The root metaphor is used for understanding something new. In this case,
the hibachi metaphor is used to link the idea of communal warmth to a generally
taboo, cold subject, to enable discussion, sharing and learning. If one object,
such as a hibachi, which “is recurrently and tacitly used in a society, it is most
likely a key symbol (Ortner 1973:134)’” (Nishioka 1997:193). The hibachi is no
longer used but will be a symbol for a long time.
Recurrent bodily domestic experiences often become symbols having (in
familial or communal setting) religious dimensions The conventionalised
metaphor or simple metaphor can be used as a source for new metaphor.
Knowledge which is commonly shared and deeply internalised is most likely to
be used as the source of metaphor. The Japanese mind will move from ‘the
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warmth and comfort of the hibachi idea’ to the possibility of discussing a taboo
subject, because of the warmth metaphor zed in the hibachi. According to
Sperber, knowledge about life after death, which is not really empirical, and only
half-understood, is highly susceptible to the cultural interpretation’s influence.
The level of susceptibility to influence varies according to the validity of the
person who has taught the knowledge. Therefore although, the average
Japanese do not like the Buddhist priest (because they see him as being
money-grabbing and representing death) one would hope that the attitude to the
minister, missionary or church leader would be different.
Following these insights, we can see how the hibachi, which signifies
warmth and a pleasant feeling to a Japanese, is a powerful metaphor that can
lead us in constructing a teaching tool about life after death. A common human
experience is used. The hibachi group is a means of constructing knowledge, a
mode of linkage, linking warm feelings to a usually cold, fearful subject. Old
knowledge is connected to new knowledge – the 3–layered worldview of life
after death is connected to the transformed Christian ritual and belief by strong,
positive feelings. An old symbol is used as a root metaphor, bringing it to a new
target domain, so that the old symbolic system is transformed. Japanese are
able, in a Zen-like way, to suddenly see the link in thought, the poetic feeling
invoked by the metaphor. It is a culturally practised way of understanding. The
hibachi group metaphor can become a symbol for the church community
meeting and sharing in discussion. This object is one recurrently used, a
physical object that is often used in a family space – a very good metaphor to
introduce into the new life after death schema.
We are not advocating a teaching tool in the western sense, and also not a
teaching tool as such, but a manner of sharing ideas, sharing experience in a
warm environment.
The household is the most important space in Japanese history. Japanese
society is in crisis. In such a period of social change, various metaphors are
needed and will play an important role because the available symbolic systems
do not provide appropriate meaning structures,
We are not advising ‘teaching”, but there must be a certain root metaphor in
the process of constructing the reality of “institutionalised practice.” For
example, a large part of Protestant local church ministry is constructed through
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a schematic knowledge of “school”. The existence of the pulpit, ways of
organizing pews, lecture-style preaching, and the content of preaching are
closely related to school, rather than to family or household. Ministry
constructed through the model of school also is associated with certain value
systems and language. It also affects time orientation, space orientations, and
relational orientations in various church practices. (Nishioka 1997:367) Usage
of the school model itself is not problematic, but an uncritical adoption of one
model over the other while neglecting its limitations, is a problem. Thus for
Japanese church ministry we need to critically assess what is a root metaphor
for social and religious realities in both contemporary Japanese society and
Japanese local churches. (Nishioka 367-368)
We have made it clear that the teaching domain is not the one to use, but it
has become clear from the surveys done that both churches, mission groups
and young pioneer churches are on the whole observing necessary ritual, but
that actual discussion and information that people are curious about and need
to know to provide a theological background to their transformed actions, are
lacking. So we will explore the concept of the hibachi, and then go on to the
contextualisation.
5.5.1 The Japanese Hibachi
Although the hibachi
火鉢
is not in common use anymore, all Japanese
are familiar with this household article of yesteryear. Hibachis were used from
the Heian period, first by the nobility. Then during the Edo period, commoners
started to use them. Hibachis were used for heating, made in circular and
rectangular shapes, from ceramic, metal or wood. Another usage was heating
water for green tea, heating sake or selected cooking, (omochi, rice-cakes or
grilling fish.) Food cooked on the hibachi charcoal has a special nostalgic taste.
(Metal hibachis are still used for the tea ceremony.)
Rectangular wooden ones were considered very chic iki.
粋
The owner
of the house monopolised it when he was thinking. The wood was lined with
copper. Wooden containers were sometimes elaborately carved and used for
entertaining guests. Broken hibachis were repaired by itinerant craftsmen who
used a bronze or copper clip to repair cracks. Glue was also used.
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Charcoal was placed inside the hibachi after it had been allowed to burn
till there was no more poisonous blue flame. The family maid or one of the
young children would see to the charcoal each morning, or put out the coals at
night. She would polish the nagahibachi’s copper lining with powder till clean
and shining. The rules regarding fire were very strict around the wooden
houses. At night the maid would use hihashi, fire-chopsticks, to pick up the
coals, put them in a clay pot and close the lid. Used charcoal from the night
before were used again the next morning and only lazy people left the coals
burning all night. Gas was used to start the fire in the morning and the
technique was to keep the fire burning slowly by covering the charcoal with ash.
Wasteful housewives kept the kettle aboil, not simmering. The hibachi needed
careful attention and visitors who used the hihashi to change the heat or move
charcoal to another side, were not appreciated. The hibachi served as the
family’s central meeting place where people would gather and sit, enjoying the
warmth, making conversation, where harmony prevailed and people usually did
not argue. It was the central point of the home for conversation and eating.
Here the elders would tell the younger family members traditional stories and
sometimes a local ghost story. Occasionally a naughty child would be banned
from the warmth of the hibachi circle and be sent outside to stand in the cold.
When small rooms were built onto the house for separate bedrooms and
people moved a small hibachi into their private rooms, perhaps one can see the
beginning of family breakdown. The hibachi kept the family together. The
immediate area around the hibachi was warm, but elsewhere cold.
The following might be suggested content for discussion around the
hibachi.
5.5.2 Hibachi Theology – The “Teaching Tool”
We are not advocating a teaching tool in the western sense, and also not a
teaching tool as such, but a manner of sharing ideas, sharing experience in a
warm environment which is Japanese to the core.
Domestic experience is filled with such repetitious, bodily and imagery
qualities. The household is the most important space in Japanese history.
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Japanese society is in crisis. In such a period of social change various
metaphors are needed; play an important role because the available symbolic
systems do not provide appropriate meaning structures, especially in a chaotic
stage of liminality and anomie.
Eating around a hibachi is important. In some Japanese local churches
the value of actual eating practices in the religious community has been
overlooked. How can the hibachi be used to construct knowledge and order
experience of other domains? “This cross-domain activity is possible when a
certain schema functions as a symbol, because a symbol is metaphorically
projected to other domains of experience” (Nishioka 1997:182).
The hibachi is the quintessential metaphor to the Japanese, denoting
warmth. When they are outside in the cold, they long for that warm, comforting
space. Outside the Japanese suffer from the cold and dream of the mild, tender
feeling that awaits them around the hibachi. Others in the church are suffering
the same coldness, so there is empathy, sympathy and friendliness around the
hibachi. Japanese will react strongly if someone takes the hibachi away. The
hibachi has been the communal space of warmth for the Japanese family for
thousands of years
(1) Hibachis were first used by the nobility – the church member is a priest
in the priesthood of believers. Special people, specially loved by God.
(2) Wooden hibachis that are carved could be spoken about, linking it to
the schema of the Cross, where His body was carved so that it would
be given meaning, eternal significance and beauty.
(3) Hibachi’s are made of malleable clay and then fired to produce a
durable, beautiful ceramic. The Christian and the church are fired by
trial and become beautiful and persevering.
(4) Sitting around one hibachi gives meaning to the idea of one body, with
diverse parts, where each one has a place and is welcomed.
(5) Rice wine is warmed, and rice cakes are grilled over the hibachi – the
Lord’s Supper could be given meaning.
(6) Hibachis can be fixed, are not thrown away. The Christian is safe with
God, not thrown away and rejected when one makes mistakes.
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(7) The hibachi lining is polished – God polishes the Christian so that the
face of Jesus can be seen in the Christian.
(8) One needs to be careful with the use of the charcoal – so we need to
be careful in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Also we need to
appreciate the church, “discern the body”, not stir up trouble, as when
we stir up the charcoal.
(9) Conversation around the hibachi could be seen as nemawashi
根回し
(preparatory discussion), before going to speak to the family about
death-related matters. The senior of the group would gently interject
subjects for conversation or necessary information and then the
normal dynamics of Japanese group discussion would take over. This
gives decision-making and learning in a culturally non-threatening
way.
(10) Hibachis had various uses – the hibachi group can be used to discuss
and bring the church together
(11) A hibachi would be displayed as an artefact of beauty instead of a
flower arrangement.
(12) A small hibachi would be used as an offering plate, again conjuring up
the feeling of warmth, beauty and togetherness.
(13) A hibachi could be used as a baptismal font.
(14) Teaching could be given on the necessity for regular church
attendance, using the metaphor of the hibachi: if you move away from
the hibachi and stay away, you become spiritually cold.
(15) The hibachi represents the warm Body of Christ, where the family are
welcomed; where there is empathy and a warm feeling towards each
other. There is a feeling of safety – safety, which the top emotional
need in the hierarchy of needs in Japan. Death can safely be
discussed and thought about. Hard truths can be reflected on,
existential matters can be faced in the company of others. These
matters should not be faced alone, or in the company of an
unsympathetic, un-believing family.
Here the family of God can help each other by speaking, sharing, listening,
lapsing into intimate silence together, practising haragei
腹芸
intuitive
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communication, and knowing that others understand and accept their fears and
complex difficulties concerning their family situation – family funerals, hooji,
grave visits and matters of personal fears and stumbling blocks.
5.5.3 Discussion Material
Content for discussion around the hibachi is written in Frequently asked
Questions style. The basic emotions are treated first, the Japanese order of
interest and importance is given. Someone not knowing their worldview or their
basic culture background about life after death would perhaps start with:
“Here’s how to get to heaven”, when issues of the ie and family should come
first; issues of ancestor “blessings” that are the Creator God’s blessings. A
whole new dimension will be opened here to the Japanese believer, coming
from his 3-layered worldview, acceptable to what is in his mind (not the
missionary’s mind) because we start at the right place.
Q. Do I need to fear death?
A. “Oh death, where is your sting, Oh grave where is your victory?” The horror
of death, the deep unease is taken away by Jesus.
Q. Who brings the rains and gives the harvests?
A. The Lord God, the Creator of the heavens and earth.
Q. Who gives the blessings of health, the ability to work and protection for the
family?
A. The Lord, our Creator and Protector.
Q. What about the future of my ‘ie’?
A. In His covenant God promises blessings to the descendants of believers.
So we put effort into praying for them and sharing Jesus.
Q. What is my relationship to the ‘ie’?
A It is unbroken. Sincere thanksgiving and respect is appropriate.
Q. Does my church relationship replace this?
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A It enriches it and enables me to be a better relative.
Q. What is the function of the eldest son?
A. As we learn in the Passover story, he is special to God, he has a special
place in the family. Our priest and mediator is Jesus.
Q. Are genealogies important to God?
A. Yes, there are many genealogies in the Bible, especially that of Jesus,and
people’s ancestors are often mentioned.
Q. What is my role in the family?
A .I imitate Jesus in sacrificial service and love, forgiveness, in deep respect of
my parents in patient training of my children, of mutual partnership with my
spouse.
Q. When will I remember my ancestors?
A. Every day I will thank God for their on (favours) and for their lives in my
prayers. I will thank God for them at visits to the graveyard as appropriate, (on
the day of their death, their birthday, at Higan, Easter and Christmas).
Q .How do I show honour to my parents?
A. By strong, creative efforts while they are alive.
Q. Who is my original ancestor?
A. Adam and Eve
Q. Will I be forgotten?
A. No. There will be annual church memorials, graveyard visits, family
memorials, and regular remembrance and thanks at communion.
Q. What is appropriate to my memory?
A. Thanks, respect, gratitude for my contribution to the family and society.
Worship to God for my salvation and life
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Q. Where will the church keep my ashes?
A In the church graveyard or ossuary
Q. Why do I receive an inheritance? What will I do with my inheritance?
A. I will use it wisely to provide for my family, especially those, who through no
fault of their own are suffering financial stringency. I will provide for our old age
and I will tithe it in thankfulness to God my heavenly Father. I will use it for the
spread of Christ’s kingdom I will use it for the upkeep of the family grave.
Q. What will I do to repay my parents for my inheritance?
A.I will honour their memories in thanks and respect. I will make extra efforts to
show love and honour while they are alive. I will regularly visit their graves.
Q. Do my descendants ever need to fear me?
A. No, I am in bliss with Jesus in heaven. I cannot return.
Q. Can I bring misfortune to my family?
A. Viruses, bacteria and accidents, bring bodily harm. Sinful relationships and
events of history, e.g. bankruptcy, brings harm to people.
Q. Can I come back and bring misfortune to my family?
A. No. Jesus said a great gulf exists between those in the after life and those
on earth – there is no return or possibility of contact.
Q. How will I handle difficult family relationship?
Q.I will value forgiveness and practise it, leaving no place for revenge.
Q.Who protects me from ‘tatari’?
A.In His death, Jesus broke all power of evil against me.
Q.What about the unseen powers that cannot be seen?
A. Jesus disarmed these powers and authorities, triumphing over them by
the cross.
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Q. Do I need tsuizen kuyoo?
A. No. My salvation is fixed when I call on the Name of Jesus, repent and
confess my sin. On the cross Jesus declared that salvation is accomplished.
Q. Do I become ‘kami’ after death?
A. No, only Jesus is God.
Q. Do I stay connected to my husband’s family in heaven?
A. We become the Bride of Jesus.
Q. What down-payment, what assurance do I have of heaven?
A. God gives me His Holy Spirit, Christ in me, the hope of glory.
Q. Will I be lonely?
A. In heaven we join with billions of believers who worship Jesus.
Q. What is my function in heaven?
A It is part mystery, what is clear, we will be worshipping Jesus
Q. Do I hunger or thirst in heaven?
A. There will be no hunger or thirst in heaven.
Q. Are the believing people dead or alive?
A. God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so the dead are alive.
Q. Why is your spirit important?
A. I am made in God’s image, my spirit stays personal after death.
Q. Is there any purgatory ‘chuuin’?
A. Jesus told the thief that he would be with Him in heaven that same day.
Q Is the danka system still law?
A It was revoked.
Q. Is the butsudan inheritance still law?
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A. Yes, I will sensitively discuss with my family the issue of butsudan
inheritance.
Q. My parents never heard the gospel, what is my attitude to God about this?
A. “Righteous art Thou, O God.” God is just when He judges and full of mercy.
He will judge them according to their thoughts and actions regarding His law in
their consciences. This is also a mystery, but we can trust Him.
Q. The gospel reached Japan for the first time (so far as we definitely know) in
the 15th century. What is my attitude?
A. Righteous art Thou, O Lord.” God will judge them according to their secret
thoughts, their consciences, actions and according to His mercy.
Q. What about Christians who commit suicide?
A. God knows their hearts, their sufferings and loves them. They are not a
danger to their families. They are accepted in mercy and are in heaven.
Q. What about the unsaved who commit suicide?
A. They were a danger to themselves, but cannot be a danger to us, protected
by the blood of Jesus.
Q. What about the future of aborted babies?
A. God is a God of mercy and love. The church accepts that babies who have
died are in God’s loving care. There is no need to think that they are suffering
or will be a danger to their families.
These FAQ should cover most of the questions that a Japanese Christian
thinks about, but will probably not readily ask.
What about hibachi discussing how one can give honour to the elders
before they die and so be a witness for Christ?
McGavran, (Bong 1985:315) admitting he doesn’t know the Japanese
situation intimately suggests: a daily Christian ritual to remember and honour the
ancestors; a book telling of the good, great deeds of ancestors, reaching back in
the genealogy; a large board, with names recorded, hung in a prominent place in
the doorway; a daily reading of a section of the family history, together with family
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prayers be read with thanks for the whole family, and prayers for God’s guidance
for the family in the future. A memorial service on the anniversary of their death:
a photo with Bible verses displayed near it.
Respect to the living family could be shown to those over 70: having
comfortable chairs at the front of the church, by ceremonies on Mother’s and
Father’s Day being more personal: the children go forward and give presents to
their own parents; special efforts taught and made to honour and show love:
birthday cards, gifts, special favourite tid-bits taken to grandmother, going to read
to those who now struggle to read, parties on their birthdays, frequent visits,
systematic church visiting of the elderly, marriage enrichment seminars, familybuilding
retreats, home dedication ceremonies,
In using hibachi metaphor as the place and manner for discussing and
ultimately teaching about life after death we have attempted to reach a
contextualisation suitable to the Japanese religious and social problem of life after
death – not using western methods of teaching doctrine, using the advice of
experienced Japanese missiologists and taking seriously Japanese culture and
concerns.
5.6 Conclusion
Japanese ideas about the afterlife and Japanese funeral rites are in a state
of change, together with many other commonly held attitudes in the society. The
church needs to take heed of the popular desire for positive remembrance of the
dead, the lesser fear of death pollution, the ties that are further forged with
companies by company funerals, the individuation trend that is happening in
commercial funerals. People have found value and meaning in the commercial
funeral.
Can the Church do the same, can they do better? Should the Church start
a drive for popularising funerals, as they did weddings, not shrinking at the extra
effort and thought that will be needed to take a funeral for traditional Japanese, not
Christians? Do we run the risk of being seen as funeral Christianity, or is this the
next step in spreading Christianity among the masses - something which is not
happening now. Buddhism filled the vacuum that Shintoo had concerning death
rituals. Has Buddhism backed itself into a vacuum that Christianity can fill?
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Should fill? Is this the kairos moment for a new method of evangelism? It should
be perfectly clear that churches and missionaries would not charge anything at all
for their church funeral services. Making it clear that we separate ourselves from
any money-making intentions. Few are stepping into a wide open opportunity
where society is ready for a new way of doing funerals: emphasizing family and
the individual, who is respected, remembered and honoured in a peaceful,
meaningful way. This is perhaps the clearest insight we have had in doing this
study. Church funerals for all Japanese, Christian or non-Christian. Evangelicals
would benefit from a handbook of liturgy and practices, skilfully written that
Japanese church and mission discuss and agree on.
Is the Church giving a solid base to its members concerning their existential
problem of life after death? This study has shown that more is needed, both in
seminaries, missionary preparation and in churches.
The hypotheses that the teaching tool could be constructed from the data
studied was borne out, as well as the notion that the teaching tool would be less
systematic than western doctrinal statements, dealing more with ritual, group
action, than with beliefs.
Assumptions were held concerning speaking to spirits and necromancy,
that incense burning involves worship and that deep bowing before the ihai looks
like idol worship were….
5.6.1 Further Research
Further questions for research flowing from this study could be the theology of
those who have never heard the gospel in Japan, a theology of funerals, of the
communion of the saints, of death, the intermediate state, worship, nature, history,
karma, rites of passage, issues of Japanese identity and the church. Also a
terminological study around the use of ‘rei’ and ‘tamashii’, (the words currently
used for ‘spirit’) a study of universalism, as related to Japanese attitudes. A
theology of the gospel of John 1 – the Logos needs contextualisation and should
be valuable. A study on covenant theology and the Japanese family would seem
to be useful. More will appear.
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But it is clear that we need to take universally common human phenomena
seriously, such as human life (birth-growth-marriage-death), family relationships
(household), pain/suffering, food/eating, light/darkness, pilgrimage, basic natural
entities (water, air, storm, mountain, river) and so on. Nishioka says the problem
lies in the Japanese church, the members are obedient to the church as if to God.
The problem is not in the society, but in the church.
We examined traditional Japanese religion and rites, the beliefs and
activities of the Church in Japan and came to the conclusion that ‘family’ is the
central ideational notion. Moving from there to the family of God, a metaphor was
found in the hibachi, mapping an idea of family warmth and using this in a manner
in which the Church can, in a suitable Japanese cultural manner, include the
members in a family discussion of a serious family issue – life after death. This is
not a personal matter, but a family matter and within the family of God, the
household of God, it is a matter, shared by all, from the minister leading the rites,
to the funeral committee, organizing the practical aspects of church participation,
to the women who will cook and serve the teas and meals. Everyone is involved,
because when one mourns, we all mourn. We prepare for this around the warm
hibachi.
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APPENDIX 1
The 3 focus groups gave responses to the following questions:
(1) Who does the term “ancestor’ apply to?
(2) Where is your furusato?
古里
(original family home town)
(3) .(3) . Do you go home for New Year and Obon?
(4) Does your ie play a big role in your thinking and actions?
(5) Is it illegal not to do ancestor worship?
(6) What is the importance of a grave visit? What is the meaning?
(7) What are you grateful for?
(8) What do you do at the gravesite?
(9) Why do you burn incense, what is the meaning?
(10) When do you speak to your ancestors?
(11) What kind of things do you say?
(12) Do you have butsudan or kamidana where you live?
(13) What are your feelings when you are before the butsudan?
(14) Main feeling?
(15) Is it a feeling of worship?
(16) Is it the same feeling as when you pray at the shrine?
(17) Have you ever experienced tatari? (cursing)
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FOCUS GROUP 1
27th December 2007: A meeting was held with 5 Japanese friends from
an interpreters’ group, living in an urban area, Ichikawa, just outside Tokyo.
There has been a relationship with some of these ladies for nearly 12 years.
Ages varied, one in her early thirties and the rest over 50, into their early sixties.
They came to the house, spoke in English, as an English speaking opportunity.
Whenever any words that meant “worship” or “respect” or other salient terms
that needed clarification were used, they were asked for the Japanese word
they meant. 2 out of 5 had lived in foreign countries. We talked for two hours.
(1) Grandfather. Direct parents, everything linked to me (her parents are
very strong in ancestor practices) Agree. The blood line, individual
ancestor, 3 – 5 generations back.
Ie: everybody. Only the youngest. No. Urban: married to the
choonan,
長男
(eldest son) so no sense of ie.. Stopped that. At
weddings, funerals the ie is emphasized, then everybody is thought of.
We think of family ties then. (We are married, so we don’t feel such ie
feeling to our husband’s family.)
(2) Yokohama, Narashino in Chiba. Furusato means inaka (country) to
her. Hokkaidoo. Tokyo: so she envies someone who has a furusato
to go to. Doesn’t feel she has one. Should be the countryside.
Kanagawa.
(3) Used to. Don’t have such a home. Once a year, but not at New Year,
etc, but at easier booking time.
No. Married, so into another ie, don’t have influence in mother’s ie.
Yes, married to eldest son. Yes, I am connected to ie. I married into.
At hooji (memorial rites) times we think of the ie.
Grandfather’s funeral. People came who did not know him, it was a
strange feeling. They had to do it because of saving her brother’s face
as he was the moshu,
喪主
(chief mourner). Relationships in the
company are complicated and you had to be careful who you notified
and to notify everyone.
To some other occasion you can send money, but a funeral you must
go. (Nirvana at 49 days) 2 meanings, (1) just after death, (2)
becoming Buddha, becoming detachment.
(4) I go to do ancestor worship, sosen suuhai.
祖先崇拝
Myself: makes
me feel better, calm, comfortable. I offer osenkoo,
線香
(incense) feel
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so kimochi ga ii. (feel so good) When I start a business, or enter
school, or there is a family event, then we go. Some people leave the
graves untidy, it doesn’t look good.
(5) Would you prefer me to call the custom “ancestor veneration” No.
(emphatic) atmosphere is different in church, and temples and
cemeteries. At the grave: respect, more, this is my origin of myself,
came back attend personally. The funeral means respect for the
deceased, to express relationships.
(6) I go to do ancestor worship, sosen suuhai.
祖先崇拝
Myself: makes
me feel better, calm, comfortable. I offer osenkoo,
線香
(incense) feel
so kimochi ga ii. (feel so good) When I start a business, or enter
school, or there is a family event, then we go. Some people leave the
graves untidy, it doesn’t look good.
(7) Yes. Grateful to the dead person. It is different to sosen suuhai. Not
ancestor worship. We pray that they please go to heaven.
(8) In Hokkaidoo, we are different. At Obon we offer food, clean, put mat
out and there, have a picnic. We offer food and then eat it, and then
you will be healthy. We eat with the ancestors, share.
In Tokyo we clean the grave, the tombstone, change the water, put in
flowers, burn incense, pray. We go twice a year; I’m married to the
choonan, (eldest son) but I go alone, even if the family doesn’t go.
We pay money to the temple, to caretake the grave. Twice and for
Obon. I know of a business that does the cleaning, offers flowers,
water and takes a photo of the grave and sends the photo to the
owner.
Then there are homepages, you can click and the ihai (mortuary tablet)
as it comes up on the screen. (all laugh) You click and that click lights
the incense. Is it free?
(9) In Yawata (Ichikawa) at the Shoowa Funeral Hall there is a tatami mat
room, but maybe that is for I feel guilty if no offering of incense for
years. So homepage is useful, if the grave is at a distance, it is
expensive to go and also to buy a gravesite. .
Sooryoo, the priest. “The smoke is the only food for the deceased” the
priest told us when my gran died. Tabemono. (food) There is a
connection with the dead. It needs to burn continuously, starting right
after death. In Hokkaidoo we stay over the night at the temple and
keep the incense burning. We keep incense burning at the house.
That is Nichiren. Yet it is generally like that in Hokkaidoo, never mind
the sect people who come from far away.
Why do you burn incense? (me) Giggles. To respect. Giggle, most
people don’t know the meaning, they all agree. 70% of people don’t
know funeral procedures, they just imitate. Shintoo offers leaves.
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Joodoo-shin-shuu break the incense stick in half, lay it down. The
priest told us to do that. Why? Don’t know. You usually put the hot
water into a cup before … to make tea, well at funerals you do it
opposite, put the hot water in …
(10) (Seemed confused at the meaning of the question). Company
funerals, many attend. Are they different to family funerals? (Me)
They make much of his soul. tomorau we share sorrow. Mrs N’s
family wanted a small funeral for her 91 year old father. But the news
of his death spread and it ended up as a big funeral.
(11) When I sit in front of the butsudan I say thank you to my grandparents,
or report to them. My parents prayed before my exams at the
butsudan. They announce my healthy growth. Usually to
grandparents, not ancestors. The third generation back I don’t know
them, so don’t feel they are close.
(12) (Only l person didn’t.) Another is in a flat and hasn’t one. It is small so
neither. When they move to a larger place she talked of getting a
butsudan . Her husband, who is the choonan, said, Why?!! Those in
their 30’s and 40’s do not have a butsudan or kamidana. Friends they
visit do not have them. Friends’ parents are still alive, when they die,
they will get a butsudan.
One woman’s 3 sons, even the eldest, do not have a butsudan. They
will buy when the parents die.
(13) Meditate. I feel calm. I pray in a different place. (this person is
Ba’hai). I have a quick memory of my mother. We have photos, so
we can remember. Someone keeps a cat’s photo too. Giggles. One
younger woman tells of a room in the furusato where the butsudan is,
with photos around the walls and is reminded of black kimono at
funerals. She found it scary in childhood.
One woman said her genealogy goes back past Edo and they have
only kept the tombstones from Edo, earlier than
(14) I’m in trouble, ask him to help, protect. I decided not to do that, but
only words of appreciation, of how I spend my days without injury or
sickness. I say thank you, I love you. When I visit the grave I speak
to them. You usually pray for them at home, not speak to them.
(15) that they have broken down. Do not use “suuhai”, this sounds like
Shintoo. Sosen o agameru.
崇める
(respect the ancestors) Sosen o
omou
思う
(think of the ancestors) natsukashii
懐かしい
(nostalgic).
Kamisama ja nai. (not a god) Never look at ancestor as god in our
generation. (very emphatic). Sosen is closer than kami or Buddha.
Don’t worship to Buddha or God, but pray to ancestors, but it is
respect. We exist because they lived. “Ogame” (respect) Kimochi
toshite, agameru. (as a feeling it is respect) In electric dictionary
“worship” is given the meaning of omatsuri suru –
祭る
to deify, to
enshrine, to worship. Here I feel it is the following kanji: to respect,
祭
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る
(to present, to do, respectfully) More Shintoo maybe. Maybe that
is the origin. It has different meanings, and are slowly changing.
To revere, more than respect, not worship. Worship is not clear.
Worship is something different, too strong.
(16) Different, more close (mijika). At the butsudan: we honor, adore –
adoration as when we see a baby (the idea, the unspoken idea was:
how precious, how dear)
as chi, joobutsu: to origin of my personality, kind of ie feeling. (People
agree)
Not too much worship, feeling of closeness, close to custom or worship
or veneration. Respect: they always protect us, (so do they have
power?) (me) they have no power. They can help us, but it’s not into
that, yes, no logic to it.
Natsukashii. (nostalgic) One says not natsukashii, not power like God,
but we feel like that.
Goriyaku,
御利益
that’s Buddhist, omegumi,
恵み
(blessings) benefits.
You receive benefits from ancestors. Not religious. It’s a sense, of
belonging, family, natsukashii, it’s a mijika na feeling. (a feeling of
closeness)
I pray, that they can cross the river, kami ni chikazuku. (go close to the
gods) Moo shite iru deshoo. (are close already, hey?) Yori kami ni
chikaku.
Okyoo:
経
(sutra) prayer, same as prayer. Very few do it. At the
funeral: okyoo is for shisha no tamashii o iyasu,
癒す
( sutras are to
heal the spirit of the deceased) nagusameru,
慰める
(to comfort them)
joobutsu saseru tame (to enable them to reach nirvana), hotoke ni
suru, Detachment from this world, become Buddha.
Sanzu no kawa (river of death) a few days after death. Memorial
tame, (for a memorial) not to forget them. 50 years, ashes into soil.
49 years, joobutsu ni natta? (do they reach nirvana) Wander around,
shijuu ku ni(laughs) No. If you don’t clean the grave, then you get it. If
I have no feeling of guilt I wont get it. (I asked: what produces guilt?)
Things I should do: like to go to the shrine and temples and
cemeteries. Some people feel like that. Not related to grave visiting,
depends on the person.
(17) I tried to open an omamori: (safety charm) and my parents told me I
legends, old people used it as a warning. Buy omamori,
お守り
go
back to the same shrine, take it back and ask them to burn it.
There is a TV fortune-teller on twice a week. She says: you don’t do
ancestor customs and that is why you are in trouble, have fights with
mother-in-law. It is an effective means to encourage you to do ancestor
129
customs. Older people and I pray, that they can cross the river, kami ni
chikazuku. (go close to the gods) Moo shite iru deshoo. (are close
already, hey?) Yori kami ni chikaku.
Okyoo:
経
(sutra) prayer, same as prayer. Very few do it. At the funeral:
okyoo is for shisha no tamashii o iyasu,
癒す
( sutras are to heal the
spirit of the deceased) nagusameru,
慰める
(to comfort them) joobutsu
saseru tame (to enable them to reach nirvana), hotoke ni suru,
Detachment from this world, become Buddha.
I tried to open an omamori: (safety charm) and my parents told me I
would be cursed. It’s a bad feeling. It is something that has come from
legends, old people used it as a warning. Buy omamori,
お守り
go back
to the same shrine, take it back and ask them to burn it.
There is a TV fortune-teller on twice a week. She says: you don’t do
ancestor customs and that is why you are in trouble, have fights with
mother-in-law. It is an effective means to encourage you to do ancestor
customs. Older people and those in the countryside where there is
strong inter-connectedness, tell each other to do ancestor customs.
Old people tell me to do the old things. In the city we still talk of tatari.
People love such TV programmes, interested but not so serious about
it, it’s entertainment. In rural areas the idea is strong, ojizoosama,
conservative religious. Shinkooshin ga tsuyoi,
信仰心
強い
more
religious, more gullible idea. Shinjin bukai
信心深い
is better to say.
(deep belief)
FOCUS GROUP 2
This focus group interview was conducted in Japanese with a close-knit
group of volunteer Japanese language teachers. They were relaxed, except for
one man who spoke little, but whose attitude showed he despised religious
money makers and seemed generally skeptical and one who was pushing his
exclusively Shintoo background.
Some said they had none. The eldest son system is breaking up. Now the
bunke is making a house, so who is the ancestor? It’s more than the
grandparents, it is roots, far back. My husband is from Shikoku, we moved
the grave, don’t know how far back. 3 generations back, far back is the
ancestors. My wife’s people are very old. The war influenced our
knowledge of our ancestors. I have ancestors, 4 generations, I have looked
into it. My family 3 generations were Christians, I didn’t have 3-5-7. My
grandchildren complained that there are no photos. My elder brother has
started to go into Buddhism. I go to a western style lawn cemetery for grave
visits.
Hokkaidoo, strange, both my parents were from Hokkaidoo. Shikoku. I
married. Osaka. (word ‘roots’ is used a few times.)
130
No, we went as young children. Generally it is a custom that is slowly
stopping, those that have a furusato, have living parents or relatives there.
My parents put their hands together, went to the graves, but now, the
religious type of grave visits are stopping. Japan was originally Shintoo, n
the home was the kamisama. The kami came and went, kami of mountains,
nature. When you die you become kami. (All disagreed; this man’s family is
Shintoo.) At World War II the kami idea ….. my family is Shinto, but I don’t
believe it.
(4) Are they kami or Buddhist? Everyone talked together about amalgamation.
Japanese are mixed up, so they marry the Christian way, receive many
ideas. Not serious, even people who don’t, say they’re Buddhists, we do
things unconsciously, not as religion, but as customs that our parents did.
(5) No. Family home is in the country, I’ve just assimilated it. If people have no
child they adopt, but both the relatives, one generation after another, had no
kids, so they gave up and stopped the line. Can’t adopt everybody to
continue the name. My father refused to do it. My family too, the generation
is finished, no kids, no continuance. If you think of the ie, (household) we
will have eitai, (eternal sutras) there is a grave but … sankotsu suru. (natural
grave) We spoke of adopting a foreigner’s child, but then decided to leave it
to nature, not force it, we’re not honke. (main household). My husband’s
friend, they adopted, but he hated it and went back to his family. So they
gave up. Years ago the parents decided this. We’ve become a free country.
(6) Thinking is changing, people want it simple, even famous people. “no
funeral” is increasing, sankotsu, in the sea, at a bridge, like in the book.
Funerals cost too much, it’s just big business. The kaimyoo (posthumous
name) Shintoo is very cheap. My father believed and asked for a Christian
funeral. Most of us have parents living, but still generally you have pressure
to have a funeral. If you don’t the relatives will complain. Some organize
their own funeral. The ihai, what will happen to that? The main way is still a
funeral. They don’t clap at a Shintoo funeral, mustn’t make a sound. You
don’t understand the proceedings at a Buddhist funeral. Shintoo is very
simple and the kaimyoo is cheap. They become the protector god of the
house. My Dad is Shintoo.
(7) The bones are buried. It’s a problem of your feelings, going to clean. I
usually don’t think of the grandparents, but if the day is fixed then we think of
them, natsukashii. (nostalgic) Giri. (obligation) If we don’t go to the haka,
feel giri. I moved my haka close by and now go every week. My husband
(we don’t have the butsudan) has photos of his parents and every morning I
offer water and… Like when the kids graduated, we put the graduation
certificate in front of it. Kamidana is high up in the corner. We have house
gods. I don’t know these things, I’m not a Japanese. (said by the Japanese
lady whose Mother was a Christian, with 3 generations of Christians).
We go to show respect to the ancestors, really it’s cleaning it, yes. Heard
it’s not good to have a plant hanging over it. It’s just custom, no heart in it.
Annual custom. Like a picnic. To calm the heart. Warm feeling. Not really
doing it for the dead, but for oneself. Making report: I’m still well. Pre-war
131
ideas had it, but the young don’t have it. If the parents don’t do it, the kids
don’t. It’s just a framework, a skeleton now. Pressure. You’re the only one
here who really respects the ancestors. My husband is swanking, he wants
his own grave, goes to report, feels responsibility. Men and women are
different.
(8) I pray for family health every day. Basically Japanese are not seriously
religious. Hindus are more religious. It’s another world, another dimension,
different world, a mental thing. Hell and heaven, more than that. Our belief
is thin. We report, feel they protect. I don’t (she goes once a week). It’s a
good thing, I want to tell them. Oh, I went to the grave, reported and
cleaned, had communication, so this good thing happened and I thought the
ancestor is watching me – people believe that. (Yeah we’re kurushii toki
kamidonomi kind of people - when in trouble pray to the gods)
Not many people think like that, I don’t think like that. I feel protected. I
forgot my parents.
Tatari question: I havn’t heard of anyone, maybe very sensitive people. If
you have strong belief. My grandparents haka is far away and I never went.
When I had 3 miscarriages, thought it’s maybe because I didn’t, I should go,
never went. Religion is feeling right.
Incense: I don’t know. I give flowers, various flowers are said to be good,
the perfume. Gives nice smell, so they can enjoy it. I’ve never thought of it.
Gimu.
義務
(obligation)
Communication: I put hands together at the gravesite. The daughter of the
Christian said: sometimes I suddenly think of her, and talk to her. One man
mentions Osoreyama (sacred mountain) where he went twice to consult the
mediums there, they shouted like mad people.
I don’t speak to my husband’s ancestors, but to my mother. I’ve got this far
in good health, soon I’m kanreki. (60 years old) (Everybody laughs.) I’ve
heard it’s bad to petition. I think of her and a happy verse of a hymn.
My mother is 93, I say Why are you still living? And she can’t hear a thing.
(Everybody roars with laughter.) When people are soon to die, they talk to
one, but I havn’t experienced it. When my Dad died I was in the 3rd year of
university, after struggling with studies, I was talking about him and I heard
his voice. He died soon afterwards. After my mother died, she was next to
me and said “Don’t worry, I’ll always look after you.” Maybe it was a dream.
If you concentrate on it, you can see a dream. When you’re in trouble, I
think of my father, I need his advice. Yeah, spiritual inspiration
(11) Yes. We threw out the kamidana, while we were cleaning out. I don’t
believe it!
(12) Not so serious. It’s my husband’s family, so not. It’s different at my
mother’s. I don’t think much about it. Gishiki. (ceremony) It’s for giving
132
rhythm to your life. Nothing to do with the ancestors. I change the water,
if you don’t it smells, no kimochi. (feeling) bad. Unusual stuff, we first put
it there.
(13) Different levels. Otsutome
御勤め
(reading of the scriptures before the
Buddha) Gimu de mo
義務
even obligation I think. There’s no Buddha
there. Ancestors. Dead people are hotoke. (Buddha) Got nothing to do
with Amida Nyoorai. Incense: you give one to Amida Nyoorai and two for
hotoke. It’s very different to Christianity. He is always up there. Who’s the
most important person in Japan? It depends on the group, there are many
gods, hotoke, not like Christianity. Buddha is one. The group’s top person
is Buddha, every sect is different.
(17) Muri. (cant be done) By worshiping the ancestors the family line can
continue. It’s lineage. 49 days then joobutsu. (nirvana) It’s got nothing to
do with kuyoo. (pacification) Hell and heaven in Buddhism? For bad
people, I hear it often. I don’t know Buddhism. What about jihi?
慈悲
(mercy) It’s just stuff you believe from being born and then passes on to
you. I know of a woman who was baptized as a baby – me too – and then
when she was older she resented it. Jibun de awanai kimono o kiseta.
(wear a kimono that doesn’t fit) Yes.
FOCUS GROUP 3
These 5 ladies are an English language group, they have a longstanding
relationship and are slightly upper-middle class.
(1) Some have none. The choonan system is breaking up. The 2nd son is
making a home, so who is ‘senzo’? (ancestor) More than grandparents,
our roots. We have genealogies. My husband is from Shikoku and we
moved the grave. Senzo is 3 generations back, don’t really know.
My close ancestors, grandparents. Further I don’t think about, havn’t
met them, but I have heard many things. I lived with my grandmother, so
when I think of ancestor it is “Ikegawa”. I think far back from Shikoku,
Tokushima Ken. They are mentioned in Genji Heike, the Heian period.
Gempei no takaki de yaburete. They lived in the mountains. The Heike
are the farm’s ancestors. In Edo period they moved to Fukagawa, trading
with the Edo Bakufu in sea-food, maybe Shikoku mikan (tangerine) and
medicine. In Meiji they were goyooshoonin, (purveyor to the government)
in the middle of that they went bankrupt. My grandfather’s father died
bankrupt. There were 3 sisters and each was adopted. My grandmother’s
mother remarried, but her husband died, my grandmother started teachertraining
with support from relatives. They rebuilt the house, the name and
observed the grave. She also married a teacher and adopted the
husband. The gravestone is about 400 years old and is in Meguro, Tokyo.
I have our genealogy.
133
I was born in Hyoogo, but moved to Ichikawa; my father grew up in
Nagasaki, grandfather was in the navy. (Mrs Okazawa brought out the
genealogical papers which came from Miyagi castle. They were Fujiwara
and the end of the Heian period. In Ooshu, near Sendai. )
My family had 3 countries: China, Taiwan and Japan. My father’s father
was from Fuchou in China and moved to Taiwan, studied a medical course
at a Japanese university and got nationalized in Japan.
(2) I don’t go. I go to the graves.
(4) Sometimes; my family is not important to me, but I am getting older and so
after my parents passed away, I started to think, I should go to the tomb.
It’s the first time I’ve been asked this question.
(5) To respect the departed, for respect. It’s a custom, but April lst my family
gathered at the Ryuusooon temple for hooji, about 15 members. It was my
father’s brother and his wife, their 17th and 13th kaiki. (memorial)
She is a Christian. I have 1, 3, 7 kinenkai, the pastor goes to the grave.
She’s Anglican. We don’t it so they pass away happily to the next world.
Hatten, to continue the family body, happiness and peace. We live happily
every day because of the ancestors, we show our appreciation. To meet
my ancestor in my heart. The Christian: I remember my ancestor.
(8) I exist because of them. I have no religion. When someone passes away
it’s instant religion. (Everybody laughs) It began in the Kamakura period.
Why?
(9) We give flowers and incense, food, sake, tea, rice, their favourite things,
cigarettes. Nowadays I have no religion. I feel very quiet, relaxed, feel
strange, especially for my parents, my parents are always there. I report to
them if I have trouble or happy things. It is basic to many Japanese
people, is the Buddhist viewpoint, morality, but Christians are different.
(10) In China there was Zen and Confucianism. Especially as you get older.
It’s a feeling, and all we have is different to foreign ideas. Like the different
feeling for colour. It’s in my heart. Like in flower arranging, only 3 flowers,
a small amount shows the universe, simple architecture, shows the
seasons, that’s the Japanese heart. The world of tea. Foreigners find this
different to understand. At night we light a candle, no flowers, because a
candle becomes the flowers in the tea-room. Zen. Christian only give
flowers and pray to the ancestors.
The smell cleans, cleanses, the smell reaches the ancestors. Shows
respect and my appreciation, it kills the smell. It’s both. It’s different now.
Koo o taku. (to burn incense)
134
(11) Once a day at the butsudan. It depends on the house. I do this in my
mind or at the butsudan and the temple.
(12) I have a good thing, or trouble, and then report it. I ask for the safety of my
family, say, “Please take the tea.”
(13) Buddhists: Yes, all have. The Christian has not. There is 1 kamidana.
The Christian has not.
(14) Nothing, but after my parents passed away, you feel their existence there.
There is an ancestor in the butsudan. I see the face of my grandparents
and parents in my heart. Not your husband’s. Butsudan is husband’s
parents’, so I report and pray at the same time to my parents. Christian:
before God. Hotokesama, they return to nature. What is heaven? There is
a hell. That comes from Confucianism. They return to nature. I don’t ask
things, like winning a lottery – definitely not. For the safety of the kids.
(15) Everybody has connections. The Christian: Same as when worshiping in
church. The grave: the bones are there. I think of my existence. They go
back to the earth, go back to the ground, become water – not soon, but the
calcium dissolves. How long does it take? From the 1940 period, my
husband’s grandparents bones have dissolved. The priest says, they don’t
last forever, the bones are wet. When we moved the bones, took them on
the bullet train and put them in the tokonoma – it was all wet through.
(16) It’s different at the temple and shrine. At the shrine you only ask.
(Laughter).
We don’t believe it, but on TV, spiritualists like it to train children.
(18) Now? We wash the gravestone, behave well, observe the grave, continue
to observe the ancestors. So that we won’t have tatari and not go
bankrupt. When we went bankrupt, it was not tatari, it was the flow of
history, as the period changed. They took loans, they lived well in
Fukagawa. We took the ihai wherever we moved, but we lost the house.
The ihai is a big one, all the generations are together there.
Christian: a calm heart and ask for something. Buddhist: thanks to the
ancestors, thanks, for one’s own life. I feel tense. I respect the ancestors.
The ancestors are near to god/kami, feel they are close, not the Christian
God, maybe the universe, not Christian. I studied Christianity, but what is
inside you is different. (Two studies at missions schools and universities.)
I went into the chapel often, I went every day to services, it was voluntary.
The missionary’s talk was very interesting, but I didn’t become a Christian.
Originally it was a good thing that is written in the Bible, but afterwards
sects started and then wars.
(20) It is not a law. Ebara-san, they say if we don’t show respect, bad things will
hit our family. Long time ago they said so. I believe in tatari. (Much
laugher.) If I do bad things. But haven’t experienced it. You did bad
things? It is punishment, in money matters. Rinne,
慈悲
(endless cycle of
135
birth and death) recycle (everybody laughs). Is Buddhist, renen kaisei
(resurrection) – from childhood we are told. They use it to educate the kids
for morality. Confucian type of things. We use it.
APPENDIX 2
No 1: Questions to mission organizations:
(1) Does your organization have a memorial service for deceased family
members?
(2) Do you have services at the graves?
(3) Do your churches have it's own cemetery or grave?
(4) Is any specific teaching given to missionaries about the issue of ancestor
worship?
(5) Do you recommend a substitute for the butsudan?
(6) Do you see what happens at funerals and the butsudan as worship or
respect?
(7) Do you teach the Japanese to stop offering incense?
(8) Do your missionaries lay emphasis on the ie, the household or family
respect.
(9) Would you welcome a contextualised teaching tool on the afterlife for your
missionaries to use?
No 2. Questions to members of OMF-led & Japanese-led
churches:
(1) What do you think the term ‘ancestor’ applies to?
(2) Are the souls of the ancestors alive today?
(3) Do you think their souls are changing?
(4) Where do you think your ancestors are, close to you or far away?
(5) What do you think about the spiritual world?
(6) Do you observe your ancestors’ memorial days?
136
(7) How do you observe these days?
(8) Do you visit the graves, have a special meal with your relatives?
(9) Do you burn incense or pray?
(10) What is the content of these prayers?
(11) When you speak to the ancestors, what sort of things do you say?
(12) What do you do during the spring and fall equinox?
(13) What do you do during obon in the summer?
(14) Do you have a butsudan or a kamidana where you live?
(15) How do you take care of it?
(16) Do you offer flowers or food, do you light a candle, do you talk in front of the
butsudan or kamidana?
(17) How often do you think of your ancestors? Every day, often or sometimes?
(18) In what situations do you think of your ancestors?
(19) Do you think your ancestors can have any influence on you. That is, can
they hurt you or help you?
(20) Have you ever experienced by cursed by any of your ancestors?
(21) Do you think you have any influence on your ancestors?
(22) Do you think you can change the destination of your ancestors through
worship and dedication?
(23) Do you think it matters for your ancestors if you do not do anything of this
kind?
No. 3 Questions to Japanese Pastors in Hokkaido and OMF
missionaries
(1) Do have a memorial service for the dead?
(2) Do you include amongst those remembered the non-Christian family of
believers?
(3) Do you have a grave plot?
137
(4) Do you have an ossuary?
(5) Do you take services at the graves?
(6) Do you hold memorial services on the 49th day?
(7) Do you hold memorial services at l year after death?
(8) Do you hold special discussion or teaching meetings to teach about life
after death
No. 4. Questions to Seminaries and Bible Colleges:
(1) Do you give teaching on the ie?
(2) Do you teach a liturgy for grave visits?
(3) Do you recommend memorial services?
(4) Do you recommend a substitute for the butsudan?
(5) Do you give specific teaching on the bones? ikotsu
(6) Do you give teaching about curses? Tatari
(7) Do you give teaching about those who have never heard the gospel?
(8) Do you give teaching about stillborn and aborted babies? Mizuko
138
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