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ws169_WHY?: questions about Japan - History (a)
ws170_WHY?: questions about Japan - History (b)
ws171_WHY?: questions about Japan - History (c)
ws172_WHY?: questions about Japan - History (d)
ws173_WHY?: questions about Japan - History (e)
hope this series helps you to understand the Japan country and people.
外国人が疑問に思う事柄の動画です。日本に興味のある外国人が知り合いにいたらぜひシェアしてください。
text テキスト: 『なぜ、日本人は？ 答えに詰まる外国人の質問178 Hard-to-Answer Questinos about Japan』著：内池久貴他 written by Uchiiké Hisataka and others／訳：マイケル・ブレーズ translated by Michael Brase（ジャパンブック JapanBook 2009）
Use google translate if you want to read this post in other language.
ws167_WHY?: questions about Japan - Customs (a)
ws168_WHY?: questions about Japan - Customs (b)
hope this series helps you to understand the Japan country and people.
外国人が疑問に思う事柄の動画です。日本に興味のある外国人が知り合いにいたらぜひシェアしてください。
text テキスト: 『なぜ、日本人は？ 答えに詰まる外国人の質問178 Hard-to-Answer Questinos about Japan』著：内池久貴他 written by Uchiiké Hisataka and others／訳：マイケル・ブレーズ translated by Michael Brase（ジャパンブック JapanBook 2009）
This is a card sent as a greeting for the new year. It usually has a picture of an animal appropriately corresponding with that year’s sexagenary cycle (éto) and is sent so that it arrives on New Year’s Day. Government post cards indicating a New Year’s gift are popular, because a prize is awarded by lottery. Most business néngajō come complete with the printed contents, while writing one’s own néngajō can tax one’s ingenuity. Néngajō also arrive from old friends; it is a pleasure both to write such cards and to receive them.
──『日本文化を英語で紹介する事典
A Bilingual Handbook on Japanese Culture【第３版】』
杉浦洋一＋John K. Gillespie
ナツメ社／2004年
なぜ、お中元、お歳暮というプレゼントをするのですか？ Why do Japanese send gifts in summer (chūgén) and winter (séibo)?
Long ago a Taoist ritual, chūgén took on the influence of the Buddhist Bon Festival, which was held around the same time, as well as the Japanese way of thinking in dividing the year into two halves, and it became an event for honoring ancestors and celebrating the safety of the first half of the year. The custom of afterwards sharing with relatives and other people items that had been offered up to the spirits of the dead changed into the current custom of courteously exchanging gifts.
Consequently, chūgén today principally refers to gifts that individuals and businesses send from early in July to July 15th to people to whom they are indebted.
This is a gift sent in the middle of December. Compared with the midyear chūgén gift, this one signifies gratitude for kindness throughout the year, so it costs somewhat more than chūgén. Early in December department stores begin to get crowded with people buying gifts, and that hustle and bustle is part of the year-end atmosphere that gives a real sense of the approaching new year. Usually, people say oseibo, adding the prefix “o” to express politeness.
──同上
なぜ、お彼岸に墓参りをするのですか？ Why do Japanese visit the family grave during the vernal and autumnal equinoxes?
Higan occurs twice a year and each lasts one week, with the Vernal and Autumn Equionx Days occurring in the middle of their respective weeks. In Buddhist terms, higan means “the other side of the river crossed by the dead,” which means that, while this side is the world of the living, the other side is the world of the dead. In order to comfort the spirits of the ancestors on the other side, people make visits to graves during higan. It is generally called “ohigan,” with the prefix “o” to make it sound polite.
──同上
なぜ、「お盆」は７月と８月に２回あるのですか？ Why is Obon held twice, in July and August?
This is a Buddhist event occurring from the 13th to 15th of July or August to hold a memorial service for the spirits of ancestors. Because the spirits of the dead are said to return at this time, fires are lit at the entrances to homes so the spirits do not lose their way, and, in addition to lanterns being lit inside homes, the Buddhist home alters are tidied up and vegetables and fruit are set out as offerings. And when ＊bon is over, the spirits are sent on their way. This is called the escorting of the spirits and fires to send them on their way are lit at entrances of homes and offerings are floated on rivers and the ocean.
──同上
なぜ、海や川にロウソク（灯籠）を流すのですか？ Why are candles set afloat on rivers and in the ocean during Obon?
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ws165_WHY?: questions about Japan - Religion (a)
ws166_WHY?: questions about Japan - Religion (b)
2021-04-02 1:00amhttps://youtu.be/E9GuRmHYtpw
hope this series helps you to understand the Japan country and people.
外国人が疑問に思う事柄の動画です。日本に興味のある外国人が知り合いにいたらぜひシェアしてください。
text テキスト: 『なぜ、日本人は？ 答えに詰まる外国人の質問178 Hard-to-Answer Questinos about Japan』著：内池久貴他 written by Uchiiké Hisataka and others／訳：マイケル・ブレーズ translated by Michael Brase（ジャパンブック JapanBook 2009）
Religion in Japan can roughly be divided into Shintō and Buddhism. However, in contemporary Japan, both Shintō and Buddhism are becoming more like a deeply rooted “custom” practiced in daily life rather than expressions of faith, as espressed in the phrase and practice of “a wedding with Shintō and a funeral with Buddhist rites.”
Shintō, literally “the way of the gods,” is the Japanese religion from ancient times, centering on the ideas of Japanese intimacy with nature and ancestor worship. All things on earth were brought froth and ruled over by the gods who reside throughout all nature. Mountains and trees often become objects of worship, and Shrine archways and sacred Shintō ropes mark sacred areas. Ordinarily, when shrines are built, objects of worship in which a god or gods reside are enshrined there. Shintō constitutes the foundation of the sensibility of the Japanese people, but most present-day Japanese, rather than placing faith in Shintō, feel their cultural identity through it.
Shintō meanwhile supported the Emperor system in a religious sense, and even now its ancient customary practices remain as the religion of the Imperial Family.
Bukkyō came to Japan in the middle of the sixth century. Supporters of bukkyō subsequently won a victory in the political power struggles of the time; building temples in every area under government patronage, it spread throughout the country. In the Kamakura Period (1185-1333), as a number of new leaders appeared and deepened its philosophy, bukkyō made clear its position of saving the weak. Zen Buddhism was brought to Japan in the Kamakura Period by priests who studied in China, and it flourished principally as the religion of samurai. At present, a culture in Japan that has bukkyō as its backdrop has laid roots deeply in the lives of the people and, together with Shinto, forms the spiritual culture of the Japanese people. Also, even today new sects of bukkyō keep emerging and gaining believers.
In Japan long ago, Buddhism, which came from abroad, and Shinto, which is a folk region, occasionally came together in a synthesis. Because Buddhism is not a theistic doctrine and Shinto principally worships nature, there were no contradictions in synthesizing them. This is called shinbutsu-shūgō. This tendency continued for a long time after Buddhism was introduced in the sixth century, with Shinto shrines supporting the construction of Buddhist temples.
When Japan began to function as a modern nation state in 1868, shinbutsu-shūgō was prohibited because the government set a policy of strengthening Shinto. But now, it is quite common to set up both Buddhist family altars (butsudan) and Shinto family altars (kami-dana) in the same house or to have weddings with Shinto rituals and funerals with Buddhist rituals.
なぜ、結婚式は神道でやるのに、お葬式は仏教であげるのですか？ Why are weddings held at Shintō shrines and funerals held at Buddhist temples?
↑上記参照
なぜ、神社の前には鳥居があるのですか？ Why is there a gate in front of Shintō shrines?
Torii are archways at the approaches to Shinto shrines and have become symbols of Shinto, indicating a sacred place where divinities dwell. Originally, they were perches for roosters offered to shrines. Two crosspieces are set on top of two upright pillars. These are everywhere in Japan. On seeing a torii, one can expect to find on the other side a Shinto shrine or a small shrine sheltering a divinity.
なぜ、神社で拝むとき手を叩くのですか？ Why do Japanese clap their hands when worshipping at a shrine?
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なぜ、祭りのときに神輿を担ぐのですか？ Why are portable shrines paraded around during festivals?
Japanese festivals are roughly divided into two kinds. Traditionally-held festivals involve Shinto deities and the people communicating through certain rites on specific dates. Formalities vary, for these festivals are mixed with a diversity of folk beliefs, yet they are invariably held in any region in Japan wherever there is a shrine. Meanwhile, from traditional festivals in which are similar in form to those traditional festivals, have also become to be called “matsuri.” And when a certain number of people gather and create a lively space, that too is called “matsuri,” and the collective state of excitement is called the “state of making a fete of it (o-matsuri sawagi).”
なぜ、狐や実在の人物を祀る神社があるのですか？ Why are foxes and historical persons worshiped at Shintō shrines?
