ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a detailed case study of the religious rituals at the Toray factory–some of which are similar to those at other companies, although a few may be more specific to Toray. It describes that in February 1927 Antonio Minelli committed suicide, who had been a chief engineer among the Italian, British and German technical advisers. He had helped to install specialist machinery at the Toray factory in Otsu. An appeasement of unattached spirits, similar to that for Minelli, takes place every August on behalf of the Toray company. According to traditional belief, the ancestors are said to return to this world for a short time each summer at around the time of the Buddhist bon festival. Every year a Buddhist priest comes to perform a rite called segaki–'being charitable to hungry ghosts'. He is accompanied by Oishi-san, who alone represents the whole company.
