Download or read book The Ritual of Rights in Japan written by Eric A. Feldman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-03-30 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ritual of Rights in Japan challenges the conventional wisdom that the assertion of rights is fundamentally incompatible with Japanese legal, political and social norms. It discusses the creation of a Japanese translation of the word 'rights', Kenri; examines the historical record for words and concepts similar to 'rights'; and highlights the move towards recognising patients' rights in the 1960s and 1970s. Two policy studies are central to the book. One concentrates on Japan's 1989 AIDS Prevention Act, and the other examines the protracted controversy over whether brain death should become a legal definition of death. Rejecting conventional accounts that recourse to rights is less important to resolving disputes than other cultural forms,The Ritual of Rights in Japan uses these contemporary cases to argue that the invocation of rights is a critical aspect of how conflicts are articulated and resolved.
Download or read book Modern Passings written by Andrew Bernstein and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2006-01-31 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What to do with the dead? In Imperial Japan, as elsewhere in the modernizing world, answering this perennial question meant relying on age-old solutions. Funerals, burials, and other mortuary rites had developed over the centuries with the aim of building continuity in the face of loss. As 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 describes the controversy over cremation, explaining how and why it became the accepted manner of disposing of the dead. 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. In the process, Bernstein shows how today’s "traditional" funeral is in fact an early twentieth-century invention and traces the social and political factors that led to this development. These include a government wanting to separate itself from religion even while propagating State Shinto, the appearance of a new middle class, and new forms of transportation. As these and other developments created new contexts for old rituals, Japanese faced the problem of how to fit them all together. What to do with the dead? is thus a question tied to a still broader one that haunts all societies experiencing rapid change: What to do with the past? Modern Passings is an impressive and far-reaching exploration of Japan’s efforts to solve this puzzle, one that is at the heart of the modern experience.
Download or read book Rituals of Initiation and Consecration in Premodern Japan written by Fabio Rambelli and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2022-01-19 with total page 613 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In premodern Japan, legitimization of power and knowledge in various contexts was sanctioned by consecration rituals (kanjō) of Buddhist origin. This is the first book to address in a comprehensive way the multiple forms and aspects of these rituals also in relation to other Asian contexts. The multidisciplinary chapters in the book address the origins of these rituals in ancient Persia and India and their developments in China and Tibet, before discussing in depth their transformations in medieval Japan. In particular, kanjō rituals are examined from various perspectives: imperial ceremonies, Buddhist monastic rituals, vernacular religious forms (Shugendō mountain cults, Shinto lineages), rituals of bodily transformation involving sexual practice, and the performing arts: a history of these developments, descriptions of actual rituals, and reference to religious and intellectual arguments based on under-examined primary sources. No other book presents so many cases of kanjō in such depth and breadth. This book is relevant to readers interested in Buddhist studies, Japanese religions, the history of Japanese culture, and in the intersections between religious doctrines, rituals, legitimization, and performance.
Download or read book Ceremony and Ritual in Japan written by D. P. Martinez and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan is one of the most urbanised and industrialised countries in the world. Yet the Japanese continue to practise a variety of religious rituals and ceremonies despite the high-tech, highly regimented nature of Japanese society. Ceremony and Ritual in Japan focuses on the traditional and religious aspects of Japanese society from an anthropological perspective, presenting new material and making cross-cultural comparisons. The chapters in this collection cover topics as diverse as funerals and mourning, sweeping, women's roles in ritual, the division of ceremonial foods into bitter and sweet, the history of a shrine, the playing of games, the exchange of towels and the relationship between ceremony and the workplace. The book provides an overview of the meaning of tradition, and looks at the way in which new ceremonies have sprung up in changing circumstances, while old ones have been preserved, or have developed new meanings.
Download or read book Women Rites and Ritual Objects in Premodern Japan written by Karen M. Gerhart and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-06-12 with total page 435 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women, Rites, and Ritual Objects in Premodern Japan, edited by Karen M. Gerhart, is a multidisciplinary examination of rituals featuring women, in which significant attention is paid to objects produced for and utilized in these rites as a lens through which larger cultural concerns, such as gender politics, the female body, and the materiality of the ritual objects, are explored. The ten chapters encounter women, rites, and ritual objects in many new and interactive ways and constitute a pioneering attempt to combine ritual and gendered analysis with the study of objects. Contributors include: Anna Andreeva, Monica Bethe, Patricia Fister, Sherry Fowler, Karen M. Gerhart, Hank Glassman, Naoko Gunji, Elizabeth Morrissey, Chari Pradel, Barbara Ruch, Elizabeth Self.
Download or read book Bringing Zen Home written by Paula Arai and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2011-09-30 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Healing lies at the heart of Zen in the home, as Paula Arai discovered in her pioneering research on the ritual lives of Zen Buddhist laywomen. She reveals a vital stream of religious practice that flourishes outside the bounds of formal institutions through sacred rites that women develop and transmit to one another. Everyday objects and common materials are used in inventive ways. For example, polishing cloths, vivified by prayer and mantra recitation, become potent tools. The creation of beauty through the arts of tea ceremony, calligraphy, poetry, and flower arrangement become rites of healing. Bringing Zen Home brings a fresh perspective to Zen scholarship by uncovering a previously unrecognized but nonetheless vibrant strand of lay practice. The creativity of domestic Zen is evident in the ritual activities that women fashion, weaving tradition and innovation, to gain a sense of wholeness and balance in the midst of illness, loss, and anguish. Their rituals include chanting, ingesting elixirs and consecrated substances, and contemplative approaches that elevate cleaning, cooking, child-rearing, and caring for the sick and dying into spiritual disciplines. Creating beauty is central to domestic Zen and figures prominently in Arai’s analyses. She also discovers a novel application of the concept of Buddha nature as the women honor deceased loved ones as “personal Buddhas.” One of the hallmarks of the study is its longitudinal nature, spanning fourteen years of fieldwork. Arai developed a “second-person,” or relational, approach to ethnographic research prompted by recent trends in psychobiology. This allowed her to cultivate relationships of trust and mutual vulnerability over many years to inquire into not only the practices but also their ongoing and changing roles. The women in her study entrusted her with their life stories, personal reflections, and religious insights, yielding an ethnography rich in descriptive and narrative detail as well as nuanced explorations of the experiential dimensions and effects of rituals. In Bringing Zen Home, the first study of the ritual lives of Zen laywomen, Arai applies a cutting-edge ethnographic method to reveal a thriving domain of religious practice. Her work represents an important contribution on a number of fronts—to Zen studies, ritual studies, scholarship on women and religion, and the cross-cultural study of healing.
Download or read book The Spirit of Japanese Law written by John Owen Haley and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spirit of Japanese Law focuses on the century following the Meiji Constitution, Japan's initial reception of continental European law. As John Owen Haley traces the features of contemporary Japanese law and its principal actors, distinctive patterns emerge. Of these none is more ubiquitous than what he refers to as the law's "communitarian orientation." While most westerners may view judges as Japanese law's least significant actors, Haley argues that they have the last word because their interpretations of constitution and codes define the authority and powers they and others hold. Based on a "sense of society," the judiciary confirms bonds of village, family, and firm, and "abuse of rights" and "good faith" similarly affirms community. The Spirit of Japanese Law concludes with constitutional cases that help explain the endurance of community in contemporary Japan.
Download or read book A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine written by John K. Nelson and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2015-08-03 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What we today call Shinto has been at the heart of Japanese culture for almost as long as there has been a political entity distinguishing itself as Japan. A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine describes the ritual cycle at Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki’s major Shinto shrine. Conversations with priests, other shrine personnel, and people attending shrine functions supplement John K. Nelson’s observations of over fifty shrine rituals and festivals. He elicits their views on the meaning and personal relevance of the religious events and the place of Shinto and Suwa Shrine in Japanese society, culture, and politics. Nelson focuses on the very human side of an ancient institution and provides a detailed look at beliefs and practices that, although grounded in natural cycles, are nonetheless meaningful in late-twentieth-century Japanese society. Nelson explains the history of Suwa Shrine, basic Shinto concepts, and the Shinto worldview, including a discussion of the Kami, supernatural forces that pervade the universe. He explores the meaning of ritual in Japanese culture and society and examines the symbols, gestures, dances, and meanings of a typical shrine ceremony. He then describes the cycle of activities at the shrine during a calendar year: the seasonal rituals and festivals and the petitionary, propitiary, and rite-of-passage ceremonies performed for individuals and specific groups. Among them are the Dolls’ Day festival, in which young women participate in a procession and worship service wearing Heian period costumes; the autumn Okunchi festival, which attracts participants from all over Japan and even brings emigrants home for a visit; the ritual invoking the blessing of the Kami for young children; and the ritual sanctifying the earth before a building is constructed. The author also describes the many roles women play in Shinto and includes an interview with a female priest. Shinto has always been attentive to the protection of communities from unpredictable human and divine forces and has imbued its ritual practices with techniques and strategies to aid human life. By observing the Nagasaki shrine’s traditions and rituals, the people who make it work, and their interactions with the community at large, the author shows that cosmologies from the past are still very much a part of the cultural codes utilized by the nation and its people to meet the challenges of today.
Download or read book The Invention of Religion in Japan written by Jason Ānanda Josephson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-10-03 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of what we call “religion.” There was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning. But when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this Western idea. In this book, Jason Ananda Josephson reveals how Japanese officials invented religion in Japan and traces the sweeping intellectual, legal, and cultural changes that followed. More than a tale of oppression or hegemony, Josephson’s account demonstrates that the process of articulating religion offered the Japanese state a valuable opportunity. In addition to carving out space for belief in Christianity and certain forms of Buddhism, Japanese officials excluded Shinto from the category. Instead, they enshrined it as a national ideology while relegating the popular practices of indigenous shamans and female mediums to the category of “superstitions”—and thus beyond the sphere of tolerance. Josephson argues that the invention of religion in Japan was a politically charged, boundary-drawing exercise that not only extensively reclassified the inherited materials of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto to lasting effect, but also reshaped, in subtle but significant ways, our own formulation of the concept of religion today. This ambitious and wide-ranging book contributes an important perspective to broader debates on the nature of religion, the secular, science, and superstition.
Download or read book Enduring Identities written by John K. Nelson and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2000-03-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enduring Identities is an attempt to understand the continuing relevance of Shinto to the cultural identity of contemporary Japanese. The enduring significance of this ancient yet innovative religion is evidenced each year by the millions of Japanese who visit its shrines. They might come merely seeking a park-like setting or to make a request of the shrine's deities, asking for a marriage partner, a baby, or success at school or work; or they might come to give thanks for benefits received through the intercession of deities or to legitimate and sacralize civic and political activities. Through an investigation of one of Japan's most important and venerated Shinto shrines, Kamo Wake Ikazuchi Jinja (more commonly Kamigamo Jinja), the book addresses what appears through Western and some Asian eyes to be an exotic and incongruous blend of superstition and reason as well as a photogenic juxtaposition of present and past. Combining theoretical sophistication with extensive fieldwork and a deep knowledge of Japan, John Nelson documents and interprets the ancient Kyoto shrine's yearly cycle of rituals and festivals, its sanctified landscapes, and the people who make it viable. At local and regional levels, Kamigamo Shrine's ritual traditions (such as the famous Hollyhock Festival) and the strategies for their perpetuation and implementation provide points of departure for issues that anthropologists, historians, and scholars of religion will recognize as central to their disciplines. These include the formation of social memory, the role of individual agency within institutional politics, religious practice and performance, the shaping of sacred space and place, ethnic versus cultural identity, and the politics of historical representation and cultural nationalism. Nelson links these themes through a detailed ethnography about a significant place and institution, which until now has been largely closed to both Japanese and foreign scholars. In contrast to conventional notions of ideology and institutions, he shows how a religious tradition's lack of centralized dogma, charismatic leaders, and sacred texts promotes rather than hinders a broad-based public participation with a variety of institutional agendas, most of which have very little to do with belief. He concludes that it is this structural flexibility, coupled with ample economic, human, and cultural resources, that nurtures a reworking of multiple identities--all of which resonate with the past, fully engage the present, and, with care, will endure well into the future.
Download or read book The Rule of Law in Japan written by Carl F. Goodman and published by Kluwer Law International B.V.. This book was released on 2017-04-01 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Practitioners who deal with Japanese law have put great store by earlier editions of this major work, which systematically compares United States (US) law and Japanese law across all the major fields of legal practice. This fourth revised edition updates the work with the continuing dramatic changes in Japan’s legal system, including changes in criminal trials, disclosures to defense counsel of evidence to be used by the prosecution, the increasing use of recordings of interrogation sessions, and the impact of the indigenous movement for judicial reform. All chapters have been updated. In the fourth revised edition, which follows the same comparative structure as formerly, author Carl Goodman ̄ an internationally known authority with extensive experience in international practice, university teaching in both Japan and the US, and US government service — takes expert stock of new developments, including the following: • the Cabinet’s Declaration reinterpreting the Renunciation of War Clause in the Constitution and legislation following such reinterpretation; • interpretation of new rules for international jurisdiction of Japanese courts, including the new law’s effect on mirror image lawsuits filed in Japan; • the Supreme Court’s rulings dealing with the presumption of paternity, the waiting period for remarriage after divorce, and inheritance rights of “out of wedlock children”; • international and domestic Japanese child custody; • unanticipated consequences of criminal trials before the new mixed lay/professional panels; • debate concerning the Emperor’s announcement of his desired abdication; and • an update of Japan’s experiment with new graduate legal faculties. Although the alteration of the legal landscape in Japan is highly visible, the author does not hesitate to raise questions as to how far-reaching the changes really are. In almost every branch of the new Japanese legal practice he uncovers ways in which laws and judicial rulings are closely qualified and are likely to present challenges in any given case. He reminds the reader in each chapter that “what you see may not be what you get”. For this reason, and for its comprehensive coverage, this new edition is sure to gain new adherents as the best-informed practical guide for non-Japanese lawyers with dealings in Japan.
Download or read book Japanese Legal System written by Dean and published by Cavendish Publishing. This book was released on 2002-02-14 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meryll Dean's superb new edition of Japanese Legal System provides a wide-ranging and unique insight into the legal system of a country which is at the forefront of global development, yet rarely examined by legal scholars. It is a major contribution to the study of comparative law and through its multidisciplinary approach breaks new ground in providing a comprehensive text on the subject. It draws on the author's first hand knowledge of Japan, but is written for non-Japanese speakers.; Through its approachable yet scholarly style, the reader is introduced to the essentials of the legal system, and guided through historical and cultural context; from which they will be able to develop an informed critique.; The book covers the history, structure and tradition of the Japanese legal system, as well as providing an insight into areas of substantive law. It contains extracts from diverse contemporary sources which, together with the author's commentary, guide the reader through the complexities of a different culture.The use of multidisciplinary sources, which are contextualised by the author, make what would otherwise be inaccessible material available for comparative analysis.; This book may be used as a textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. It will be useful for those engaged in the study of history, politics, international relations and law, as well as being of value to academics, practitioners and those in business
Download or read book Who Rules Japan written by Leon Wolff and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-30 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic growth of the Japanese economy in the postwar period, and its meltdown in the 1990s, has attracted sustained interest in the power dynamics underlying the management of Japanês administrative state. Scholars and commentators have long deba
Download or read book Japanese Consumer Dynamics written by P. Haghirian and published by Springer. This book was released on 2010-11-24 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today Japan is still the second largest and most important consumer market in the world. This book discusses the development of Japanese consumerism, particularities of Japanese consumer behaviour and consumer rights, new consumer groups and emerging trend in the Japanese market.
Download or read book Be More Japan written by DK Eyewitness and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether you're dreaming about your first journey, revisiting the trip of a lifetime or simply in love with all things Japan, Be More Japan will transport you to this fascinating country. Dive into the thrilling and serene world of Shinto monks, street food vendors, anime characters, Okinawan centenarians, technological innovators, J-Pop megastars, ancient philosophers, onsen dwellers and so many more. There are so many ways to fall in love with Japan. It's home to one of the world's most unique cultures: a perfectly balanced celebration of past traditions; the vibrancy of now and the need to look fearlessly into the future. From architecture to martial arts; from ramen to robots; kawaii to Kusama; ikigai to ikebana; towering skyscrapers to shrines - Be More Japan uncovers the art and creativity behind modern Japanese living through its kaleidoscope of contrasting places, people and practices. With beautiful design throughout and with each page alive with facts, history and inspiration, Be More Japan invites you to absorb a little Japanese wisdom into your daily life.
Download or read book Understanding Japanese Society written by Joy Hendry and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Japan enters the 21st century with a new emperor, this title continues to be an indispensable guide through often enigmatic and historical idiosyncrasies of Japanese culture and politics that are often confusing to the outsider. This title includes information on the latest social developments, customs, rituals, business culture, medicine and arts.
Download or read book Understanding Japanese Society written by Professor of Social Anthropology Joy Hendry and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fully updated, revised and expanded, this is a welcome new edition of this bestselling book providing a clear, accessible and readable introduction to Japanese society.
