ABSTRACT
Japan is one of the most urbanised and industrialised countries in the world. Yet the Japanese continue to practise a variety of religious rituals and ceremonies despite the high-tech, highly regimented nature of Japanese society. Ceremony and Ritual in Japan focuses on the traditional and religious aspects of Japanese society from an anthropological perspective, presenting new material and making cross-cultural comparisons.
The chapters in this collection cover topics as diverse as funerals and mourning, sweeping, women's roles in ritual, the division of ceremonial foods into bitter and sweet, the history of a shrine, the playing of games, the exchange of towels and the relationship between ceremony and the workplace. The book provides an overview of the meaning of tradition, and looks at the way in which new ceremonies have sprung up in changing circumstances, while old ones have been preserved, or have developed new meanings.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|57 pages
The question of tradition
chapter 3|14 pages
The parish of a famous shrine
part II|77 pages
Rituals for the dead
chapter 4|25 pages
On structural duality in Japanese conceptions of death
chapter 6|13 pages
Memorial monuments and memorial services of Japanese companies
part III|100 pages
The tools of ceremony