ABSTRACT
In the Edo period, not only were all Japanese required to register at the local Buddhist temple, they were also required by law to avail themselves of the temple’s service for funeral rites. By way of reaction to this universal imposition of Buddhist funerals, there emerged, especially among Shinto families, demands for nonBuddhist, Shinto funerals. The premise for the Shinto funeral movement was that Japan must have had its own indigenous funeral practice before Buddhism arrived from the continent. The Yoshida family was the first to systematise Shinto thought and ritual practice in the Edo period, and funerals were part of their general concern as well. But Yoshida Shinto funeral rites only became well known later in the Edo period. In fact, the first to debate the performance of funeral rites outside the established Buddhist framework were Confucianists and Confucian-inspired Shintoists. Funerals were important to them as part of their on-going efforts to ‘Japanise’ ritual practice. Zhu Xi type funeral rites are set out in the Karei text, and such development as there was in Confucian funeral practice in Edo Japan owed much to this classic work. Nakae To¯ju’s funeral in 1648 was one of the first to be conducted beyond Buddhist boundaries. We saw that To¯ju was inclined favourably towards Shinto but his own funeral was in fact Confucian. The series of funerals overseen by Tokugawa Mitsukuni (1628-1700) in the 1660s were based on the ritual formulae in the Karei.28 Kumazawa Banzan was another Confucianist who engaged in debate about funeral practice. Banzan’s So¯sai benron and the So¯reiryaku of Ogyu¯ Sorai (1666-1728) are well-known examples of Confucian writings on funerals.
