About Our Ancestors

A fascinating study of the rituals and beliefs surrounding ancestor worship and the development of linked households called dozoku in Japan, this volume is informed by Yanagita Kunio's controversial theory that the core of Japanese religious experience is the veneration of ancestors. Unlike many other theorists, Kunio argued that even generally worshipped gods like the god of the New Year and field and mountain gods were all originally ancestral spirits. His book is a comprehensive look at the origins and meaning of ancestor worship in modern Japan.