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Although Japan has become a more secular society (see Religion in Japan), as of 2007, 90% of funerals are conducted as Buddhist ceremonies. [2] Immediately after a death (or, in earlier days, just before the expected death), relatives moisten the dying or deceased person's lips with water, a practice known as water of the last moment (末期の水, matsugo-no-mizu).
Voluntary death by drowning was a common form of ritual or honour suicide. [ citation needed ] The religious context of thirty-three Jōdo Shinshū adherents at the funeral of Abbot Jitsunyo in 1525 was faith in Amida Buddha and belief in rebirth in his Pure Land , but male seppuku did not have a specifically religious context. [ 28 ]
Despite the importance of death rituals, in traditional Japanese culture the subject is considered unclean as everything related to death is thought to be a source of kegare (defilement). After coming into contact with the dead, individuals must cleanse themselves through purifying rituals . [ 4 ]
In medieval Japan, this tradition developed a process for sokushinbutsu, which a monk completed over about 3,000 days. [8] It involved a strict diet called mokujiki (literally, ' eating a tree ' ). [ 10 ] [ 9 ] The monk abstained from any cereals and relied on pine needles, resins, and seeds found in the mountains, which would eliminate all fat ...
According to traditional Japanese beliefs, all humans have a spirit or soul called a reikon ().When a person dies, the reikon leaves the body and enters a form of purgatory, where it waits for the proper funeral and post-funeral rites to be performed so that it may join its ancestors. [1]
Later the mitamaya was generally established for Japanese nobles, military heroes, and other people with high reputation. This practice spread in the Edo period. During the Kokugaku movement it became more common to erect mitamaya in ordinary homes. [6] It formed a central part of the Shinto funeral rituals (神葬祭, shinsōsai). [4]
Cremation in Japan was originally practiced by monks seeking to emulate the cremation of the Buddha. [1] Virtually all deceased are now cremated in Japan – as of 2012, it had the highest cremation rate in the world of over 99.9%. [ 2 ]
Ishikozume (Japanese: 石子詰め) was a ritual method of execution performed in ancient Japan. The ritual is characterized by waist high burial in earth followed by lapidation (death by stoning). [1]