(3) the five auspicious days concerned with the celebration of life and reproduction grounded in Chinese Taoist ideas (9 January, 3 March, 5 May, 7 July, 9 September); (4) specific days to celebrate Shinto and Buddhist deities; and (5) rites of passage. However, during the last century these ‘annual events’ have changed dramatically. Firstly, the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1872 meant that the date for each ritual occurrence has become fixed and as a consequence many of the events no longer correspond to actual seasonal changes in nature. A second factor that had a far greater effect on people’s perception of and involvement in ‘annual events’ was the progressive industrialization and urbanization of Japanese society throughout the twentieth century.
Before the Second World War more than 70 per cent of the population lived in rural farming communities consisting of extended families that operated as agricultural production units depending on mutual collaboration for their survival (Asahi Shinbun 2003). The whole community participated in ‘annual events’ that were organized around local shrines and temples. Moreover, knowledge about domestic ritual observances was passed on through the generations (Ogino 2000: 65). By contrast, the majority of Japanese born after the Second World War grew up in nuclear, (sub)urban families, commonly organized along strict gender roles. Women were housewives and mothers who stayed at home, while men were the main breadwinners who worked long hours as white-collar workers (salariiman) (Ishikawa 2000: 5).<sup>3</sup> Although community or neighbourhood networks continue to exist in both rural and urban areas, it is fair to say that for most urban Japanese school and work associations have become equally – if not more – important (Daniels 2008). As a result, ritual knowledge is no longer transferred through the extended family or the local community; the next section will focus on how commercial companies have managed to fill this gap.
Commodification of Ritual Practices
In his excellent ethnography of contemporary funeral services in urban Japan, Suzuki explores the effects of commodification on the ritual system. He pays attention to ritual processes of regeneration (hare-ke-kegare), discussed earlier, which he describes as ‘a tricyclic circulation of an increase in vitality or energy and a depletion of energy’. Hare, the source of energy, can thus be interpreted as acting as a pump ‘that eliminates kegare (enervated) and fortifies ke (normal spiritual energy)’ (Suzuki 2000: 29). Suzuki reveals that in contemporary Japan, like in other industrialized societies, most people die in hospital. The removal of the process of dying from the home and, by extension, the decrease of funerals organized by the local community has had two main consequences. Firstly, everyday practical knowledge about funeral rituals has been largely lost and, secondly, community solidarity reiterated through these life cycle rituals has decreased. Professional funeral companies that offer assistance with the entire process have successfully filled the void. Their monopoly on ritual knowledge allowed these companies to obscure their profits, but new types of funeral practices have also resulted in new forms of dependency that are based on ties between individuals and occupational solidarity (Suzuki 2000: 217).
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Inge Daniels