Abstract
Kishimoto Hideo, a scholar of the science of religion, had cancer at 51 years old, but recovered his health after he had an operation. Just when he was about to forget the matter, he experienced a recurrence of cancer. He fought against it, and against a fear of death, for ten years. Kishimoto declared that he did not believe in the perpetuity of a soul and a posthumous world. But when he faced death, he realized that it was the most convincing weapon for the problem of death. Kishimoto at first fell into "a state of life starvation" for fear of death. In later years, however, he said "The shadow of fear of death has disappeared, " "I am filled with hope in thinking about my work and doing as much as I can with my life." What brought such a change of a state of mind? This report pays attention to the change of Kishimoto's state of mind, and considers "the view of the posthumous world" that Kishimoto grasped in the last moments of his life.
