Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Use coupon code “FEBRUARY20” for a 20% discount on all items! Valid until 28-02-2025

Site Logo

Royal Mail  express delivery to UK destinations

Regular sales and promotions

Stock updates every 20 minutes!

When Death Falls Apart: Making and Unmaking the Necromaterial Traditions of Contemporary Japan

2 in stock

Firm sale: non returnable item
SKU 9780226829012 Categories ,
Through an ethnographic study inside Japan’s Buddhist goods industry, this book establishes a method for understanding change in death ritual through attention to the dynamic lifecourse of necromaterials.   Deep in the Fukuyama mountainside, “the grave of the graves” (o-haka no haka) house...

£24.00

Buy new:

Delivery: UK delivery Only. Usually dispatched in 1-2 working days.

Shipping costs: All shipping costs calculated in the cart or during the checkout process.

Standard service (normally 2-3 working days): 48hr Tracked service.

Premium service (next working day): 24hr Tracked service – signature service included.

Royal mail: 24 & 48hr Tracked: Trackable items weighing up to 20kg are tracked to door and are inclusive of text and email with ‘Leave in Safe Place’ options, but are non-signature services. Examples of service expected: Standard 48hr service – if ordered before 3pm on Thursday then expected delivery would be on Saturday. If Premium 24hr service used, then expected delivery would be Friday.

Signature Service: This service is only available for tracked items.

Leave in Safe Place: This option is available at no additional charge for tracked services.

Description

Product ID:9780226829012
Product Form:Paperback / softback
Country of Manufacture:GB
Title:When Death Falls Apart
Subtitle:Making and Unmaking the Necromaterial Traditions of Contemporary Japan
Authors:Author: Hannah Gould
Page Count:208
Subjects:Asian history, Asian history, Social and cultural history, Archaeology, Social & cultural history, Archaeology, Japan
Description:Through an ethnographic study inside Japan’s Buddhist goods industry, this book establishes a method for understanding change in death ritual through attention to the dynamic lifecourse of necromaterials.   Deep in the Fukuyama mountainside, “the grave of the graves” (o-haka no haka) houses acres of unwanted headstones—the material remains of Japan’s discarded death rites. In the past, the Japanese dead became venerated ancestors through sustained ritual offerings at graves and at butsudan, Buddhist altars installed inside the home. But in twenty-first-century Japan, this intergenerational system of care is rapidly collapsing. In noisy carpentry studios, flashy funeral-goods showrooms, neglected cemeteries, and cramped kitchens where women prepare memorial feasts, Hannah Gould analyzes the lifecycle of butsudan, illuminating how they are made, circulate through religious and funerary economies, mediate intimate exchanges between the living and the dead, and—as the population ages, families disperse, and fewer homes have space for large lacquer cabinets—eventually fall into disuse. What happens, she asks, when a funerary technology becomes obsolete? And what will take its place? Gould examines new products better suited to urban apartments: miniature urns and sleek altars inspired by Scandinavian design, even reliquary jewelry. She visits an automated columbarium and considers new ritual practices that embrace impermanence. At an industry expo, she takes on the role of “demonstration corpse.” Throughout, Gould invites us to rethink memorialization and describes a distinct form of Japanese necrosociality, one based on material exchanges that seek to both nurture the dead and disentangle them from the world of the living.
Imprint Name:University of Chicago Press
Publisher Name:The University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication:GB
Publishing Date:2023-12-11