ButsudanThe butsudan is a household ancestor altar where offerings are made to ask for the protection of, and to tend to, the spirits of the ancestors. Not every household has one, as typically it is the duty of the eldest male in a patrilineal family to care for the ancestors (though the daily rituals are most often performed by the eldest male's wife). A butsudan can be quite expensive and is usually purchased from a temple though you can find them in some stores as well. During the Tokugawa Era (1600-1867) and the implementation of the Danka system all households were required to have a butsudan.
The butsudan is in essence a wooden cabinet of masterwork quality where the ihai of the most recently departed ancestors are placed for veneration. They may contain candles, lanterns, incense burners, bells, scrolls, statues, and other assorted objects. In the modern era, with the proliferation of photography, photographs of the deceased are now placed in the butsudan along with the ihai. Butsudan rituals mirror Japanese religiousness at large by exhibiting much variation. It can include (separately or in combination) food offerings, praying, lighting of incense and/or candles, merely speaking to the ancestors or--as shown in the video at right--chanting. |
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