沖縄における死の現在 : 火葬の普及・葬儀社の利用・僧侶への依頼  [in Japanese] A Recent View of the Death in Okinawa: popularization of cremation, appearance of funeral corporations and reliance on Buddhist monks  [in Japanese]

本稿では、沖縄における死の変容を、火葬の普及、葬儀社の出現、葬儀時の僧侶への依頼という3つのファクターから考察することを試みた。その結果、沖縄では近代化が進むなか、特に1972年の本土復帰以降、火葬場が多数設置されて火葬が広まり、土葬や洗骨の風習が廃れていったこと、および、今ではその多くが入棺が済むとすぐ火葬場へ行き、そこに隣接する葬祭場で告別式をおこなうという順番に変わったことを明らかにした。また、葬儀社の出現が、葬儀の均一化・商品化、仏教との提携をもたらしたことを指摘した。さらに、このような変化は、伝統的に死の世界を扱い、憑依などを通して人々に生々しい死を提示してきた民間巫者であるユタと、それらの慣習を否定し、新たに死の領域に介入し始めた僧侶との深刻なコンフリクトを生じさせていることも示した。沖縄におけるこのような葬儀の本土化・近代化は、すべて生者の側からの利便性・効率性の追求、換言すれば、死者や死の世界の軽視にほかならない。そのため、沖縄でも、これまでみられた生者と死者の密接な関係が失われ、今後は日本本土と同様、死の隠蔽・拒否が強まるのではないかということを論じた。

In this paper, I tried to consider a change of the aspect of the death in Okinawa from these three factors which are popularization of cremation, appearance of funeral corporations and reliance on Buddhist monks at funeral rites. As a result, I made it clear that in Okinawa as the modernization advances, especially after the Okinawa's reversion to Japan in 1972, cremation has popularized because of the construction of crematories, therefore the custom of interment and washing dead men's bones have declined, and nowadays,sequence of the funeral has changed in many cases as the attendants go to the crematory immidiately after casketing, hold the final service at the funeral hall which adjucent to the crematory. Then I pointed out that the appearance of funeral corporations made the funeral rites uniform and merchandise, and strengthend the cooperation with Buddhism. Furthermore, I showed the occurrence of serious conflicts between Okinawan shamans called Yuta who traditionally has handled the world of the death and present the death vividly to people through possession etc., and Buddhist monks who deny these customs and started intervening in the field of the death. Such changes in Okinawa of modernization of funeral just as the mainland of Japan mean not anything less than pursue of convenience and efficiency, in other words, negligence of the world of the deceased and the death from the side of the alive. Because of that, I insisted that even in Okinawa, close relationship between the dead and the alive would be lost, and the concealment and denial of death would be strengthened in the future as that of the mainland of Japan.