- Sorei
The Japanese word ‘sorei’ (祖霊) refers to the spirits of ancestors.Specifically it refers to the spirits of those ancestors that have been thetarget of special memorial services that have been held for them at certainfixed times after their death. The dates and the frequencies of these servicesvary widely depending on the region of Japan.Hendry, 1995, p. 30] Bernier, 1985, pp. 68-69] Suitable occasions may for example be 33 and 50 years after death. [From the Japanese-Japanese part of the dictionary [http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp GOO] for 祖霊]
A special belief connected with "sorei" is the notion that the memorialservices result in the ancestral spirit successively losing its individuality,eventually becoming an entirely deindividualized part of the collective of"sorei".Hendry, 1995, p. 30] However, depending on the region peoplemay think that these services are merely aimed at properly disposing orpacifying the ancestral spirit.Bernier, 1985, pp. 68-69]
The folklorist
Yanagita Kunio has asserted that the rituals andideas around "sorei" could be fitted into a general scheme wherebyancestors become not only protectors, but "kami " or "ujigami ".However, while it is possible that in the distant past such a development withregard to certain ancestors has occurred, according to other scholars thatcannot be proven.Bernier, 1985, pp. 68-69] Contemporary Japanese may, in relation to their recently dead, not think about the ancient notion of "ujigami" at all, but they do have a notion about the spirits of the dead becomingsome sort of enlightened being. Indeed, another word for the departed soul isin Japanese "hotoke", which also means Buddha. [Reader, 1991, p. 41]Notes
References
*BERNIER, Bernard, ‘Yanagita Kunio’s ‘‘About our ancestors’’: is it a model for an indigenous social science?’, in Koschman "et al.", 1985.
*HENDRY, Joy, "Understanding Japanese society" (2nd ed). Routledge, 1995. ISBN 0-415-10259-6
*KOSCHMAN, J. Victor, ŌIWA Keibō & YAMASHITA Shinji (eds.) "International perspectives on Yanagita Kunio and Japanese folklore studies". Cornell University East Asia Papers, No. 37, 1985.
*READER, Ian, "Religion in contemporary Japan". Macmillan Press, 1991. ISBN 0-333-52321-0 ISBN 0-333-52322-9
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