Japanese people who have been blessed with rich nature have the “nature worship” as their roots. The “nature worship” is the feeling of awe of nature and a gratitude to its blessings which has two opposite faces. This includes a gentle face and horrible face. Japanese people adopted the rythm in life of a rice growing culture.
The roots of traditional rites, rituals and ceremonies lie in the simple gratitude and prayer to the blessings of nature in daily life. Then they gradually changed themselves into ceremonies which make their life each year enjoyable and pleasant. Eventually they became the ceremonies which stood for various junctures in their life.
This form of traditional rites, rituals and ceremonies is influenced strongly by the ideas from the Chinese Continent. This has been formed with Buddhism, Confucianism and Fifve Elements (Go-Gyo(G)) of In-Yo all mixed together. Japanese accepted them, could adopt them into Japanese climate and transformed them into Japanese rythm in life. It was made possible because there had been simple “nature worship” in the roots of the Japanese.
Thus, the traditional rites, rituals and ceremonies rooted in Japan have been carried through different times up to now, into their modern society. In order for them to understand the present traditional rites, rituals and ceremonies, they have to take into account the following three circumstances in addition to the influence from the Chinese Continent.
Three Circumstances : Number 1
Differences in traditional rites, rituals and ceremonies are the differences by the areas, typically represented by Kanto area (eastern Japan, typically around Tokyo) and Kansai area (western Japan, typically around Kyoto and Osaka). A prominent example is the shape of “mochi” (rice cake) for the New Year. In Kansai area, they are round shaped whereas in Kanto area, they are square cut. Kanto area has a base on Samurai culture and these two are the main big streams of traditional rites, rituals and ceremonies.
Number 2
Japanese people still live by “two calendars” even now. In the fifth year of Meiji (1872), Japanese government adopted a Western solar calendar instead of the old calendar (ref. shinreki & kyureki, in order for Japan to compete with Western countries as an industrial country. At that time, the government set December 3 of Meiji 5 in the old calendar as the January 1 of Meiji 6 in the new calendar. Therefor when they celebrate the event according to the new calendar, it is a month earlier than what we used to celebrate according to the old and conventional calendar.
O-bon is a good example. Most people in Japan celebrate O-bon in August according to the old calendar, while in some Kanto area, people celebrate it according to the new calendar in July. Buddha must be confused which one to follow.
Number 3
Traditional rites, rituals and ceremonies have a long history, but during the Edo and through the Meiji period, they changed their forms greatly. What they are following now, as traditional rites, rituals and ceremonies, were formed during that period, and so they have a relatively short history. For example, temples came to be involved in funerals in Edo period, and kaimyo (posthumous “Buddhist” name) and other rules about funerals were made during that period.
It cannot be overlooked that even though traditional rites, rituals and ceremonies have their roots in simple nature belief, they had to go through changes in their forms according to religions or policies of the government of the time. ###
:: JAPAN : How we breathe & How our Hearts beats. New Millenium Corporation, 2008.
