Death and Pollution as a Common Matrix of Japanese Buddhism and Shintō

Abstract

Starting from two famous examples of death taboos in sources from the seventh and tenth centuries, respectively, this article argues that the Japanese taboos regarding pollution (kegare) , which have become intimately associated with Shint ō , are actually a product of different cultural influences and came into being only at a time when worship of Buddhist and local deities (kami) already existed side by side. My focus, how-ever, is not the question when and where such taboos originated, but why they were sustained during many centuries which were dominated by a Buddhist world view. My conclusion is that the concept of kegare , and by extension the deities who defined what was pure and what was defiled, became an important means to single out Buddhist clerics as specialists dealing with death and the ensuing pollution. Kegare , therefore, served as a non-Buddhist concept for the benefit of Buddhism. To back up this argument, the article contains several examples from literary sources which provide insights into the interactions between daily life at court and the pantheon in Japan ’ s premodern period.