View source for Sorei

{{short description|Japanese term for the spirits of ancestors}}
{{italic title}}
The Japanese word {{nihongo|'''''Sorei'''''|[[wiktionary:祖霊|祖霊]], lit. "Founder/Ancestor/Antecedent Spirit"}}  refers to the [[Ancestor worship|spirits of ancestors]]:  Specifically, it refers to the spirits of those ancestors that have been the target of special memorial services that have been held for them at certain fixed times after their death.  The dates and the frequencies of these services vary widely depending on the region of Japan.<ref name="hendry">Hendry, 1995, p. 30</ref><ref name="bernier">Bernier, 1985, pp. 68-69</ref>  Suitable occasions may for example be 33 and 50 years after death.<ref>From the Japanese-Japanese part of the dictionary [http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp GOO] for 祖霊</ref>

A special belief connected with ''sorei'' is the notion that the memorial services result in the ancestral spirit successively losing its individuality, eventually becoming an entirely deindividualized part of the collective of ''sorei''.<ref name="hendry">Hendry, 1995, p. 30</ref> However, depending on the region, people may think that these services are merely aimed at properly disposing or pacifying the ancestral spirit.<ref name="bernier">Bernier, 1985, pp. 68-69</ref>

The folklorist [[Yanagita Kunio]] has asserted that the rituals and ideas around ''sorei'' could be fitted into a general scheme whereby ancestors become not only protectors, but ''[[kami]]'' or ''[[ujigami]]''.  However, while it is possible that in the distant past such a development with regard to certain ancestors has occurred, according to other scholars that cannot be proven.<ref name="bernier">Bernier, 1985, pp. 68-69</ref> Contemporary Japanese may, in relation to their recently dead, not think about the ancient notion of ''ujigami''  at all, but they do have a notion about the spirits of the dead becoming some sort of enlightened being. Indeed, another word for the departed soul is
in Japanese ''[[hotoke]]'', which also means Buddha.<ref>Reader, 1991, p. 41</ref> 

==See also==
* [[Glossary of Shinto]]
* [[Ujigami]]

==Notes==
<references/>

==References==
* BERNIER, Bernard, ‘Yanagita Kunio’s ‘‘About our ancestors’’: is it a model for an indigenous social science?’, in Koschman ''et al.'', 1985.
* HENDRY, Joy, ''Understanding Japanese society'' (2nd ed). Routledge, 1995. {{ISBN|0-415-10259-6}}
* KOSCHMAN, J. Victor, ŌIWA Keibō & YAMASHITA Shinji (eds.) ''International perspectives on Yanagita Kunio and Japanese folklore studies''. Cornell University East Asia Papers, No. 37, 1985.
* READER, Ian, ''Religion in contemporary Japan''. Macmillan Press, 1991. {{ISBN|0-333-52321-0}} {{ISBN|0-333-52322-9}}

[[Category:Religious rituals]]
[[Category:Japanese mythology]]
[[Category:Goryō faith]]
[[Category:Veneration of the dead]]

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{{Japan-myth-stub}}{{Shinto shrine}}