A grave is a place or structure where the body or bones of a deceased person are interred. One ancient form of grave in Japan is the kofun, a structure constructed by piling up earth between 250 and the 600s. More than 160,000 kofun remain from that time, demonstrating the dedication and energy of many powerful figures. The largest kofun is the Emperor Nintoku Tomb in Osaka. These powerful figures sought to express their power through their size and meticulous attention to detail. However, one may wonder, "If graves are symbols of power, what about the graves of ordinary people?"
Burying the deceased in holes dug by ordinary people was a tradition in Japan. However, building a tomb over the body was not common. The origins of Japanese graves are said to date back to the stupa, a tower containing the remains of Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. Shari comes from the word "sharira," meaning remains, and a stupa refers to a tower containing the remains of a Buddha. The building itself was believed to bring good fortune, and later, towers modeled on the shape of stupas came to be used for various graves.
So, when did the practice of preparing a gravestone to commemorate the deceased become common? It is said to have begun during the Edo period. The beginning of the Edo period was a time when Christianity was beginning to spread, and local rulers were able to import large quantities of weapons from overseas through missionaries. Upon learning of this, the Edo Shogunate, believing that Christianity posed a danger to the Shogunate, began to ban Christianity. The danka system was then established as law, under which individuals belonged to a specific temple, had a grave there, and entrusted all funeral and memorial services, which are difficult for amateurs to perform, with the temple providing financial and manpower support. At the time, temples were responsible for managing documents listing each family member's age and relationship, and had authority similar to that of a modern-day government office. The Edo Shogunate's establishment of this temple parish system forced residents to convert to Buddhism, creating a strong bond between temples and residents. As a result of this trend, modern-day Buddhist funerals became commonplace, and the custom of building graves began. However, even though graves were being built, tombstones were expensive, so only high-ranking individuals such as samurai could afford them. Ordinary people could only build graves by piling up stones from the riverbank or erecting long, thin boards. While today it's common for the deceased to be cremated and the family buried together, at the time, individual funerals, where each individual was buried in a grave, were the norm. When buried, the remains were not burned but simply buried in the ground. However, as land became increasingly scarce, the practice of cremating the body and burying the entire family in the same grave became common.
Reference: "What is the meaning of a grave? Adult Relearning TV"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv9p03-mnh0
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