The Natural Funeral (shizensou

Abstract

This paper focuses on the citizens’ movement for promoting shizensou that has arisen since the early 1990s in Japan. It ascertains the social backgrounds of the movement, which originally began as an attempt to preserve nature, and the proponents’ view of the next world and their views on nature. This analysis includes social factors such as demographic trends toward the nuclear family. Furthermore, based on written newsletter reports on shizensou, this paper will examine views of the next world, and indicate that their views are animistic. Finally, I will argue that present-day shizensou is a revitalization of the custom of scattering of the ashes, which was performed in ancient Japan, but it also involved other new elements.

Citation

Taguchi, H. (2005), "The Natural Funeral (shizensou", Takahashi, T. (Ed.) Taking Life and Death Seriously - Bioethics from Japan (Advances in Bioethics, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 225-252. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3709(05)08809-6