Awards

• Winner of Oregon Book Awards (Nonfiction) 2006

Overview

In Imperial Japan, as elsewhere in the modernizing world, funerals, burials, and other mortuary rites had developed over the centuries with the aim of building continuity in the face of loss. As the Japanese coped with the economic, political, and social changes that radically remade their lives in the decades after the Meiji Restoration (1868), they clung to local customs and Buddhist rituals such as sutra readings and incense offerings that for generations had given meaning to death. Yet death, as this highly original study shows, was not impervious to nationalism, capitalism, and the other isms that constituted and still constitute modernity. As Japan changed, so did its handling of the inevitable. Following an overview of the early development of funerary rituals in Japan, Andrew Bernstein demonstrates how diverse premodern practices from different regions and social strata were homogenized with those generated by middle-class city dwellers to create the form of funerary practice dominant today. He also explores the conflict-filled process of remaking burial practices, which gave rise, in part, to the suburban """"soul parks"""" now prevalent throughout Japan; the (largely failed) attempt by nativists to replace Buddhist death rites with Shinto ones; and the rise and fall of the funeral procession.

Full Product Details

9780824828745

Table of Contents

Reviews

Death and funeral practices constitute fascinating topics, yet to my knowledge, Andrew Bernstein's study is the first to take a broad overview of these topics for Japan. His work is both comprehensive and highly original, based on wide reading in the secondary and primary sources. The writing is excellent--witty and free of jargon. Highly recommended.--Anne Walthall

"Death is universal and apparently timeless, yet it has a history all its own. In Modern Passings, Andrew Bernstein recounts the story of a modernity that clothes itself in the shroud of tradition. From the debate over cremation to the invention of Shinto funerals, the history of death in Japan has been characterized by an ongoing struggle to invent traditions that seem at once ancient and modern; accommodate changing religious and social sensibilities; and secure Japan's membership in the ranks of the world's ""civilized and enlightened"" nations. Bernstein presents an incisive and fascinating look at a process that--like it or not--touches us all.--David L. Howell Bernstein explores the invention of a 'traditional' Japanese way of death in modern times in this fascinating and challenging work. He elucidates the complex dynamics of the process with careful, balanced attention to the interactions among the state, organized religions, the funeral industry, and individual families. The writing is crisp, in places lyrical. The book is a pleasure to read and offers much to ponder.--Andrew Gordon Death and funeral practices constitute fascinating topics, yet to my knowledge, Andrew Bernstein's study is the first to take a broad overview of these topics for Japan. His work is both comprehensive and highly original, based on wide reading in the secondary and primary sources. The writing is excellent--witty and free of jargon. Highly recommended.--Anne Walthall"

Bernstein presents an incisive and fascinating look at a process that-- like it or not-- touches us all.

Death and funeral practices constitute fascinating topics, yet to my knowledge, Andrew Bernstein s study is the first to take a broad overview of these topics for Japan. His work is both comprehensive and highly original, based on wide reading in the secondary and primary sources. The writing is excellent witty and free of jargon. Highly recommended.--Anne Walthall

Author Information

Andrew Bernstein is assistant professor of history at Lewis and Clark College.

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