Dynamics of Changes in Funerals

A Study of the Union and Reorganization of Keiyaku Kō in Mogami, Yamagata

Abstract

This paper describes how funeral customs changed in a local community in the process of social change in post-war Japan. It elucidates the factors that changed funerals and the mechanism that advanced those changes by focusing on the case of keiyaku kō (mutual aid organizations for funerals) in Mogami, Yamagata. Several dozen keiyaku kō in an urban area of Mogami have gradually discontinued operations after the construction of a crematorium powered by heavy oil. This new establishment had a major impact on the transformation of keiyaku kō, yet was an achievement for which the leaders of each keiyaku kō united their organizations and negotiated with the local government. Behind this measure lay not only the financial situation of the town but also the activities of the leaders, who took advantage of the social trend of community development and certain slogans from the New Life Movement. After that, a local funeral company opened business there, but its impact was secondary. While previous studies have explained changes in funerals as mainly being caused by industrialization, my results indicate that traditional funeral cultures were not unilaterally negatively affected by industrialization, but rather, local residents took the initiative in actively reorganizing them.