Death and Social Order in Tokugawa Japan: Buddhism, Anti-christianity, and the Danka System

Death and Social Order in Tokugawa Japan is a very important book providing a detailed explanation of a vital part of early modern Japanese Buddhism that goes a long way to putting in perspective how the religious tradition functions in the contemporary world. To put in context the contributions of the book, it can be noted that visitors to Japan who are curious about the role of Buddhism in relation to modern society generally come away with a mixed impression. On the one hand, the presence of temples is pervasive throughout most urban and countryside areas, and this also means that there are many examples of festivals and rituals on display, creating a sense of vibrancy. At the same time, observers often get the feeling that Buddhism is not as spiritually dynamic an institution as might be expected. Conversations with Japanese people can lead one to feel that they have little interest or enthusiasm for traditional religiosity. In many cases, they appear to lack familiarity with some of the basic elements of religious doctrine or practice, which seem to be known only to relatively few priests, scholars, and ritual specialists. Nam-lin Hur’s new book, his second on Tokugawa(or Edo-) era Japanese Buddhism following Prayer and Play in Late Tokugawa Japan: Asakusa Sensōji and Edo Society, shows that, on closer investigation, the disconnect between appearance and reality is due in large part to the pervasive influence of what can be called the Japanese Buddhist “way of death.” This refers to the widespread use of Buddhism in funerary customs as well as memorial ceremonies for deceased relatives or familial ancestors. Much of a typical Buddhist temple’s activity revolves around serving families by providing funeral rituals and helping to facilitate other rites such as the O-Bon (or Ghost) festival along with cyclical visits to graves or additional observances and ways of commemorating the dead.