Ceremony and Ritual in Japan: Religious Practices in an Industrialized Society

by D. P. Martinez (Editor), Jan Van Bremen (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415514941
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/11/2011
Series:	Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jan van Bremen, D.P. Martinez

Table of Contents

Introduction, Jan van Bremen; Part 1 The question of tradition; Chapter 1 Wedding and funeral ritual, Robert J. Smith; Chapter 2 Rituality in the kengame, Sepp Linhart; Chapter 3 The parish of a famous shrine, Sylvie Guichard-Anguis; Part 2 Rituals for the dead; Chapter 4 On structural duality in Japanese conceptions of death, Halldór Stefánsson; Chapter 5 Orchestrated reciprocity, Jane M. Bachnik; Chapter 6 Memorial monuments and memorial services of Japanese companies, Hirochika Nakamaki; Part 3 The tools of ceremony; Chapter 7 A Japanese Shint? Parade, Arne Kalland; Chapter 8, D.P. Martinez; Chapter 9 Sonaemono, Jane Cobbi; Chapter 10, Joy Hendry; Chapter 11 Cleaning floors and sweeping the mind, Ian Reader; conclusion Conclusion: The rituals of urbanity, Augustin Berque;