Studying about “Wood burial” - a treatment of cremation ash in Japan, today

Abstract

This paper studied ``wood burial'', a form of the burial of cremation ash under the tree in Japan today. Cremation has been conducted in Japan at a rate of more than 90%. Traditionally, the cremation ashes are buried in the family grave with known Japanese name as ``ie haka''. But now, in Japan, the factors influencing traditional customs such as family structure, the proportion of youngand old people, religious consciousness... are changing. This led to new trends and changes in the culture of treatment of cremated remains. Among that, ``wood burial'' has emerged and become  increasingly popular. In general, the ``wood burial'' in Japan has many common features such as having harmony with nature, using trees instead of artificial gravestones, etc. in the general trend in the world. Besides, through my study, in the particular context of Japan, the Japanese style wood burial, inheriting traditional characteristics such as burying the cremated ashes in the family unit (like family grave), the permanence of grave,etc...has been clarified. Like that, inheriting
the previous studies, this paper did a research about the background, characteristics, popularity… of the ``wood burial'' in Japan. It is also a noticeable topic of having attracted attention from various viewpoints nowadays. Through this, it is possible to understand Japanese burial culture, the culture of family, ancestor worship, etc. And relating to Vietnam, it is also a meaningful topic in the background that cremation has been increasingly accepted in Vietnam, and based on that, in
the culture of burial, ancestor worship custom… the change has been happening. Through the study, the author hopes to contribute to providing the knowledge systematically about this new topic in Vietnam. In this paper, through fieldwork research of the author, clarifying the characteristic, the acceptance and performance of wood burial,…, and through it, making clear the culture of treatment of cremation ashes, the change of family structure, ancestor worship, the concept of patriarchy...
in Japan nowadays, is the purpose of my research. This topic has almost not been studied in Vietnam systematically and is meaningful in the context cremation is increasingly accepted, and brings changes in burial culture, the ancestor worship… in Vietnam today.