Ancestor worship in Japan is ritual, supported by a sophisticated theory, by which the living manage their bonds with the dead. Differing cultural values on autonomy/dependence create differences in interpersonal bonds, thus different dynamics in breaking and continuing bonds after death. This article defines ancestor worship and places in its historical/political context, discusses autonomy and dependence as cultural values in terms of expressions and resolutions of grief, and describes ancestor worship as processes similar to the resolution of grief in the modern West.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
YamamotoJ.OkonogiK.IwasakiT., and YoshimuraS., Mournings in Japan, American Journal of Psychiatry, 125, pp. 1661–1665, 1969.
2.
StroebeM.GergenM. M.GergenK. J., and StroebeW., Broken Hearts or Broken Bonds: Love and Death in Historical Perspective, American Psychologist, 47, pp. 1205–1212, 1992.
3.
StroebeM., Coping with Bereavement: A Review of the Grief Work Hypothesis, Omega, Journal of Death and Dying, 26, pp. 19–42, 1992.
4.
SilvermanP.KlassD., and NickmanS. (eds.), Continuing Bonds: Understanding the Resolution of Grief, Taylor & Francis, New York, in press.
5.
SmithR. J., Ancestor Worship in Contemporary Japan, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1974.
6.
OffnerC. B., Continuing Concern for the Departed, Japanese Religion, 11:1, pp. 3–16, 1979.
7.
GearyP. J., Living with the Dead in the Middle Ages, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1994.
8.
WalterT., Natural Death and the Noble Savage, Omega, Journal of Death and Dying, 30:4, pp. 237–248, 1994–95.
9.
TaggartM., Salvete et Valete: On Saying Goodbye to a Deceased Former Parent, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 6:2, pp. 117–122, 1980.
10.
KanekoS., Dimensions of Religiosity among Believers in Japanese Folk Religion, Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion, 29:1, pp. 1–18, 1990.
11.
YanagawaK. and AbeY., Cross-Cultural Implications of a Behavioral Response, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 10:4, pp. 289–307, 1983.
12.
JungC. K., Psychology and Religion, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1938.
13.
CoontzS., The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap, Basic, New York, 1992.
14.
LernerM., Surplus Powerlessness: The Psychodynamics of Everyday Life … and the Psychology of Individual and Social Transformation, Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, 1991.
15.
RandoT. A., Treatment of Complicated Mourning, Research Press, Champaign, Illinois, 1993.
16.
RynearsonE. K., Psychotherapy of Pathologic Grief: Revisions and Limitations, Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 10:3, pp. 487–499, 1987.
17.
RaphaelB., The Anatomy of Bereavement, Basic Books, New York, 1983.
18.
ParksC. M. and WeissR., Recovery from Bereavement, Basic Books, New York, 1983.
19.
DoiT., The Anatomy of Dependence, BesterJ. (trans.), Kodansha International, Tokyo, 1973.
20.
WatanabeH., Establishing Emotional Mutuality Not Formed in Infancy with Japanese Families, Infant Mental Health Journal, 8:4, pp. 398–408, 1987.
21.
WatanabeH., Difficulties in Amae: A Clinical Perspective, Infant Mental Health Journal, 13:1, pp. 26–33, 1992.
22.
WinnicottD. W., Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena, International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 34, pp. 89–97, 1953.
23.
ReiffP., Freud: The Mind of the Moralist, Viking, New York, 1959.
24.
SuzukiD. T., Toyo Bunmei No Kontei ni Aru Mono, Asahi Shimbun, December 22, 1958.
25.
SuzukiD. T., Studies in Zen, HumphreysC. (ed.), Delta, New York, 1955.
26.
SuzukiD. T., An Introduction to Zen Buddhism, Grove Press, New York, 1964.
27.
OttoR., The Idea of the Holy, HarveyJ. W. (trans.), Oxford University Press, New York, 1923.
28.
BuberM., I and Thou, KaufmannW. (trans.), Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1970.
29.
BaumeisterR. F., Meanings of Life, Guildford, New York, 1991.
30.
DurkheimE., Suicide: A Study in Sociology, SpauldingJ. A. and SimpsonG. (trans.), SimpsonG. (ed.), Macmillan, New York, 1951.
31.
Bruce LongJ., Reincarnation, in Death, Afterlife, and the Soul, SullivanL. E. (ed.), Macmillan, New York, pp. 138–145, 1987.
32.
PlathD. W., Where the Family of God is the Family: The Role of the Dead in Japanese Households, American Anthropologist, 66:2, pp. 300–317, 1964.
33.
GildayE. T., Dancing with the Spirit(s): Another View of the Other World in Japan, History of Religions, 32:3, pp. 273–300, 1993.
34.
SmartN., Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations in Human Beliefs (2nd Edition), Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1995.
35.
HoweP., Speaking a Different Language, Kansei Time Out, pp. 12–14, 1994.
36.
KlassD., Parental Grief: Solace and Resolution, Springer, New York, 1988.
37.
KlassD., Solace and Immortality: Bereaved Parents's Continuing Bond with Their Children, Death Studies, 17, pp. 343–368, 1993.
38.
VolkanV., Linking Objects and Linking Phenomena: A Study of the Forms, Symptoms, Metapsychology, and Therapy of Complicated Mourning, International Universities Press, New York, 1981.
