On structural duality in Japanese conceptions of death

Much has been written on the subject of Japanese funeral customs and ancestor worship as these are taken to have occurred in the past, and much has been written on modern practices as well. ² A striking aspect thereof is the extent to which Buddhism has come to be associated with rites of death from the time it began to spread through all classes of the Japanese population in the late Heian period (794-1185). In fact, Japanese scholars often express the view that Buddhism only became Japanese by ‘invading’ an area that was taboo in the native culture. Through its capacity to deal with the pollution of death, previously so strictly avoided, it became sōshiki bukkyō, or Funeral Buddhism (Sasaki 1989:59; Haga 1987: 55-86).