Comparative Folkloric Research on Funeral Rite

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We undertook fieldwork studies on funeral and memorial practices in the Southwest Islands, Korea and Taiwan. The goal of this folklore study was to understand the unseen world of these regions. Okierabu Island and Yoron Island were the main areas studied in the Southwest Island. During early modern times Buddhism and Shintoism spread extensively throughout these island but did not seriously influence the thinking of the people there. Folk religious belief still remains in these islands. Two opposite areas; suburbs in the city of Seoul and an isolated island in the south of Korea were chosen as study areas. Influences from Confucianism and folk religion were visible among the ritual practices there. However, Christianity has strongly affected funeral practices in recent years and friction between funeral participants is becoming more serious. It is difficult to understand their practices derived from the concepts of folk religion. In Taiwan the fieldwork was carried in Taipei and its surrounds with the funeral practices of Taoist priests (doushi) and Folk religion priests (houshi) being compared. Women chorus meetings of the sacred texts of Buddhism were also investigated. We successfully identified the elements of continental and Taiwan indigenous origin.This fieldwork and comparative study gave us further clues to understand the funeral practices of these regions. All of them expressed a feeling of awe towards the spirits of the deceased. In Japan, this spirit is conceptualized as 'the gods who beg festivals" and we would like to carry out further case studies of funeral and memorial services based on this concept.