In the summer of 1873，the Meiji government’s Council of State declared a nationwide ban on cremation, a Buddhist practice that had long been considered barbaric and grossly unfilial by Confucian and nativist scholars. In response to the prohibition, an alliance of Buddhist priests, educated citizens, and even government officials proceeded to argue that, far from being an “evil custom ” of the past, cremation was a “civilized ” practice suited to the future. Insisting that cremation was sanitary and that it also saved grave space while facilitating- ancestor worship, cremation suMorters appropriated state-sanctioned values and aims to win repeal of the ban only two years after it went into effect. Ironically, the end result of the ban was a widely accepted rationale for cremation, which was transformed from a minority practice into a majority one. By the end of the twentieth century, cremation had become the fate of nearly every Japanese.
目次
Becoming a Buddha 300 Extinguishing the Most Unfilial of Acts 304 Out of the Ashes 309 The Family That Graves Together Stays Together 312 Foul Smoke and Rotting Corpses 318 Cremation Reignited 323 Reference 331
