Sorei

Sorei is a Japanese word that means "Founder/Ancestor/Antecedent Spirit". It refers to the spirits of ancestors who have been the subject of special memorial services that are held at fixed times after their death. The specific dates and frequencies of these services vary throughout Japan..^[1][2] Some suitable occasions for these services are 33 and 50 years after the death of the ancestor.^[3]

There is a belief that the memorial services cause the ancestral spirit to gradually lose its individuality and eventually become a part of the collective sorei.^[1] However, in some regions, people believe that these services are simply meant to dispose or pacify the ancestral spirit.

According to the folklorist Yanagita Kunio, the rituals and beliefs surrounding sorei suggest that ancestors can become protectors or kami. Many scholars disagree. The Japanese word for the departed soul, hotoke, can also mean Buddha.^[4]

Related pages

• Ujigami

Notes

1. Hendry, 1995, p. 30
2. Bernier, 1985, pp. 68-69
3. From the Japanese-Japanese part of the dictionary GOO for 祖霊
4. Reader, 1991, p. 41

References

• BERNIER, Bernard, ‘Yanagita Kunio’s ‘‘About our ancestors’’: is it a model for an indigenous social science?’, in Koschman et al., 1985.
• HENDRY, Joy, Understanding Japanese society (2nd ed). Routledge, 1995. ISBN 0-415-10259-6
• KOSCHMAN, J. Victor, ŌIWA Keibō & YAMASHITA Shinji (eds.) International perspectives on Yanagita Kunio and Japanese folklore studies. Cornell University East Asia Papers, No. 37, 1985.
• READER, Ian, Religion in contemporary Japan. Macmillan Press, 1991. ISBN 0-333-52321-0 ISBN 0-333-52322-9