일본의 오봉에 비추어본 한국의 조상숭배 문화 ―일본 관서지역과 고야산 오봉, 현지 조사를 통하여―

Abstract

From ancient times, people have regarded July as the ""ghost month"" in China. Their ancestral spirits were considered very important among the ghosts, and thus were the subject of memorial services and mercy offerings. It was likewise in Korea and Japan. But following the inflow of Buddhism into north-east Asia, customs changed. The 『Uranbun Sutra(盂蘭盆經)』 was held capable of leading deceased ancestral spirits to heaven by way of offerings awarded to the monks. It was accompanied by the 『Mokruyn Sutra(目蓮經)』, which added the idea of filial piety. Today, however, the Uranbun tradition is maintained in Korea only as an old wives tale. Yet there is a big related festival in Japan. My studies into this subject, conducted through the Gansai area and the temples at Goya mountain in Japan, confirmed that the difference in retained emphasis is a result of historical development. Confucian funeral rituals have never taken hold in Japan. Also, while Christianity made inroads into Japan, the Japanese ruler Ieyasu Tokugawa(1542～1616) intervened to suppress it and ensure funeral rituals retained their Buddhist identity. From that time, the Obon(お盆) became a people's festival and Japanese funeral rituals were entrenched in Buddhism. But in Korea, during the Joseon dynasty Buddhism was suppressed, Confucian funeral rituals and ancestor worship have taken hold. During the Japanese colonial rule of Korea, the colonisers sought to degrade all of custom include ancestor worship as part of a more general attempt to nullify traditional Korean popular beliefs and traditions. Then following liberation, Christianity made rapid and widespread inroads into Korean life, further eroding traditions of ancestor worship. Today, the ceremony for the Royal Ancestor's Shrine is UNESCO recognized. However, it constitutes little more than performance. The labor of preparing the traditional dishes involved in paying ancestral homage, for example, are seen as burdensome to many in the newer generations. Large numbers of people, not only Buddhists and Confucianists, but also those of no professed religion, go to church and do not perform traditional ancestral rites. Performing ancestral rites on an individual basis is burdensome. But if people were to worship together in the temple this would lessen the burden. It would also serve to festivalize the rites ceremonies and repopularize Buddhism, as well as resolve the conflicts of tradition which can arise in modern families.