Teaching how to deal and cope with life and death situations is commonly known as Life Education in Japan. Life Education has become an increasingly important topic today, especially in these unprecedented times. There are so many notable moments where this type of education becomes essential and valuable. One of those moments was on March 11, 2011 where a magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck Japan’s northeastern shores. This horrifying earthquake was also followed by a tsunami and a nuclear disaster killing more than 15,500 people. The grief of these consecutive series of awful events have not subsided in the memories of survivors.
Another time where Life Education becomes helpful and important is when we age. As we all get older, the experience of death of family members and friends inevitably increases. Anyone who experiences losing a loved one may feel waves of intense and very difficult emotions, ranging from profound sadness, emptiness, despair, and regret.
Moreover the COVID-19 pandemic has recently contributed to the rise of the rate of suicides in Japan, especially among young adults and women. And recently, the Russia-Ukraine conflict poses a different type of threat to the Japanese economy, as well as the concern for people & their lives.
In Japan, educational books about coping with death are getting more attention during the pandemic. People now realize its necessity and how beneficial it can be to get this information out to the public. Furthermore, since Japan is the world’s fastest aging country, a large number of elderly people and their families seek to learn to better cope with end-of-life situations. In the country, with a median age of 48, more than one in five people of the population is 65 or over.
Multiple domestic surveys revealed that news and images of death are much more prevalent today which fuels an overwhelmingly more negative perspective, causing people to be more scared, anxious, worried, and sad. One Japanese religionist believes that not thinking about death actually reduces the meaning of death, and its importance of life. He goes on to say, “The best time to think about death is when you’re healthy. If your physical health is undermined, it is very difficult making those wise decisions for many things when you might feel your life is ending.”
It’s easier to cope with death situations today when we learn about our country’s historical views on life and death, from the beginning to the present. We are convinced that it can make a positive difference in our daily lives, giving us more perspective and thus the ability to live more mindfully.
In our society, the subject of death can certainly be taboo, as many of us don’t want to talk about death or plan for the end of our own lives. However, by learning ahead of time, we can better deal with the reality of these situations. When we better understand death, we can ultimately begin to cope with it when it arrives. Otherwise, we end up avoiding the topic until it’s too late. We believe death is a natural part of life. Thinking and learning more about death is important and also make us appreciate the life we live as well.
The Oldest Religious Text in Japan, Kojiki & Nihon Shoki
There is two primary sources for Japan’s native belief system of Shinto. Shinto is the oldest religion in Japan, and at the root of it lies animism—the belief that all things have a spirit or soul, including animals, plants, mountains, seas, and the sun.
One of the sources called Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) is the oldest existing chronicle in Japan and was written in 711-712 CE. Kojiki is a collection of myths explaining the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami (god or deity). The second source is called Nihon Shoki (The Chronicles of Japan), which is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history which was completed in 720 CE. Nihon Shoki is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki. Nihon Shoki includes the most complete extant historical record of ancient Japan.
In these two books, Izanami (woman) and Izanagi (man) gave birth to the Japanese archipelago/collection of the Japanese islands. They are the primordial gods of the Shinto religion.
To put it simply, in Shintoism, when a person dies, one goes to the land of Yomi. Yomi is located underground and is covered with the Kegare (impurity) of death. The world of spirits is separated from our daily world, where people cannot come and go freely.
What is interesting about the myths is that the woman god, Izanami was fatally burned and went to Yomi. Izanami is depicted as afraid of death and eventually loses her life—she is a god but acts very human. Since the Japanese Gods also die, humans cannot rely on God, and must confront their death with their own wisdom. The Japanese believed every living thing is part of nature, and when they die, everybody eventually returns to nature.
Religious Syncretism/Medley: Process of Blending Shinto with Buddhism in the 6th Century
Buddhism was first introduced to Japan in the 6th century, during the Asuka period (552 to 645 CE). Buddhist missions were initially difficult because of Shintoism in Japan, but this situation changed completely when Suiko, who was devoted to Buddhism, became the empress in 592 CE. She is the first reigning empress of Japan in recorded history. Under the Buddhist monarchs and other authorities, Buddhism started to have a huge influence on the development of the entire society. As a result, countless numbers of Shrine-Temples were built everywhere in and around the country, while Buddhist temples were attached to local Shinto shrines. This Japanese fusion of Buddhism and Shinto belief systems is called Shinbutsu-shūgō. That’s very unique to the Japanese people as they tried to reconcile Buddhism with their indigenous Shinto religion.
One of the Shinto-Buddhist practice theories is named Honji Suijaku. It maintains that Buddha was the true image or nature of the spiritual beings to whom the people prayed, while Shinto deities were localized and provisional manifestations of these Buddhas. In this view, people saw the kami (god or deity) as manifestations of the Buddhist deities. There is no exact agreement about the extent of the fusion of Shinto and Buddhism, but Honji Suijaku preaches that the two religious are the same.
The Vengeful Spirit: Shinto Beliefs & Rituals in the Heian period（794-1185）
In the Heian period, we see that the Japanese began to integrate different religious ceremonies even though they believed in Shintoism. For example, aristocrats who believed in Shinto still wanted a Buddhist funeral performed. This was because the Buddhist mindset of death is not something to be feared and should not be avoided, which is a more favorable concept. In contrast, Shinto sees death as dark, fearful, and impure. Thus in Japan, religions are often seen as being defined by their rituals and practices, more than by their beliefs. In the Edo period (1603-1867), Buddhist funeral services became more of a legal obligation even though many people believed in Shinto.
The Buddhist view on life and death is the concept of reincarnation. Death is not considered the end of life. On the contrary for Shinto, death is seen as impure and conflicting with essential purity. In Buddhism, death can be an opportunity for liberation from the cycle of life, death and rebirth. People are reborn many times after death. When the body dies, the soul owns another body and begins a new life. It’s a more opportunistic idea, which led to Buddhist funerals becoming more widespread among aristocrats.
The aristocrats in the Heian period were superstitious. One of the popular aristocrats’ customs is called Katatagae. This is when Shinto fortune tellers predict bad conditions or misfortune. Heian aristocrats would believe in these practices and readings and thus would change their plans accordingly in order to avoid unpleasant luck. In the pre-science era, the Japanese were afraid of unreasonable things. Many people feared the soul of a person who died while holding a grudge or jealousy, which is called Tatari. Tatari refers to a condition when a soul of human (sometimes a dead human soul) causes a calamitous condition for human beings, or a supernatural force that works within that condition.
One of the famous historical stories of Tatari in the Heian period, is about a famous courtier-scholar and poet named Sugawara no Michizane (845-903). His vengeful spirit undertook a posthumous revenge. Michizane was falsely accused of treason by the Heian courts who were jealous of his enormous rise to power. He was exiled to Dazaifu on the Kyushu island from Kyoto in 901. At that time, Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan. He lost everything that he had and ended up living poor, passing away there alone two years later in despair.
After Michizane’s death, plague, drought and disasters coincidentally spread in Kyoto. Furthermore the son of the Emperor died soon thereafter, and the Emperor’s grandson also passed away in a mysterious manner. That wasn’t the end as more people died who were involved in Michizane demotion. A multitude of people became terrified as they believed these occurrences were caused by Michizane’s vengeful spirit. The government determined the only way to make this havoc stop is enshrine him in Kyoto and humbly offer him their apologies. The government built a Shinto shrine called Kitano Tenmangū in Kyoto, and dedicated to Michizane as the god of learning.
As mentioned earlier, Shinto’s view of death is seen as kegare (impurity). A bereaved family came into contact with the corpse was thought to be stained with death. People believed the bereaved family needed kegare wo otosu (to sweep away the pollution) to stop causing anomalies in the community.
One of a purification rituals for Shinto is using salt. The salt custom is still popular in modern day, and is called Kiyome-no-shio (salt for purification) in Japanese. See below pictures, some Japanese people have a home altars named Kamidana designed for home worship.
There are two more well-known salt customs. If you’d like to explore this topic further, please visit this link.