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I. Représenter et présentifier – Represent and Presentify

Reinventing the Afterlife in Japan (1960-2020): From Temple Dioramas to Architect-designed Hell and Heaven Parks

Réimaginer les lieux de l’au-delà au Japon (1960-2020) : des dioramas dans les temples aux parcs des enfers et paradis créés par des architectes
日本における死後の世界の再創造(1960―2020年):寺院の境内ジオラマと建築家によって設計された地獄と極楽のテーマパーク
Mary Picone
p. 55-74

Abstracts

In Japan the ancestralized dead are generally associated with graves and memorial tablets. Yet the most tangible and elaborate form of post-mortem contact with the mass of those existing outside this status (for example in the hells or as hungry ghosts, gaki) is provided by three dimensional re-creations of the otherworld, based on the painted scrolls portraying the six paths of reincarnation (rokudō-e). They are to be found in temples containing halls dedicated to the infernal King and judge Enma (Yama), in relatively recent additions to other temples or, more generally, on sites of “Buddhist leisure” such as contemporary religious-themed amusement parks, or even as roadside attractions. Amusement and religious instruction continue to be combined also in sites such as the sacred mountain of Tateyama, anciently known as an abode of the dead and later as a pilgrimage destination. In order to develop tourism in the 1990s the local prefectural authorities built a museum housing the famous “pilgrimage mandala” scrolls as well as a series of parks. The most ambitious of these is the Tateyama mandara amusement park (Tateyama mandara yūen), a very complex symbolic and multisensorial representation of the world of the eponymous scrolls. Designed by a well-known architect it mainly portrays the souls’ itinerary through the paths of rebirth and includes seven paradises in the form of installations by artists. Other attempts at recreating the afterlife include minor tourist attractions such as the Izu Gokurakuen (paradise amusement park), now prized by some as an example of retro Shōwa nostalgia, a building containing still another version of plaster dioramas of infernal tortures embellished by light effects, plus a paradise attached to a sex museum. Another type of re-creation is constituted by the models of new hells (such as that for “eraser thieves”) made by schoolchildren to whom an artist and former teacher had shown pictures of the Tateyama mandalas as a source of inspiration.

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Excerpt

Cairn

Full-text article available to subscribers or on a "pay per view" basis. It will be available on this URL in January 2027.
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Outline

A very brief summary of Premodern and Early Modern Japanese views of the afterlife
An attempted typology of sites re-creating the otherworld
Beppu Daibutsu and Kosanji: Early examples of Buddhist amusement parks
Tōchōji and Shōkanji
Religious attractions: Retro representations of the afterlife and Shōwa nostalgia
Hells and heavens re-created as conceptual art: children’s temporary installations and the Tateyama mandara yūen
Conclusion

First lines

Looking beyond the usual sites or objects associated with the dead in Japan such as cemeteries or memorial tablets, it may be argued that the most tangible and elaborate form of post-mortem contact is provided by three dimensional re-creations or reinventions of the otherworld. Although some earlier versions still exist the majority of these re-creations of the “lives of the dead” were built in the years of Japan’s economic boom, between the late 1970s and the mid 1990s, most frequently in the form of attractions added to idiosyncratic temples or as part of amusement parks with a Buddhist theme. They are often called “Hell and Heaven tours” (jigoku gokuraku meguri), a continuation at least in name of a devotional literary genre dating back to the 9th century. The following pages are not an historical study. As a contribution to the special issue on the multi-sensorial lives of the dead recreated by technology, they are devoted to contemporary or quasi contemporary structures and ser...

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References

Bibliographical reference

Mary Picone, “Reinventing the Afterlife in Japan (1960-2020): From Temple Dioramas to Architect-designed Hell and Heaven Parks”Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident, 47 | 2024, 55-74.

Electronic reference

Mary Picone, “Reinventing the Afterlife in Japan (1960-2020): From Temple Dioramas to Architect-designed Hell and Heaven Parks”Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident [Online], 47 | 2024, Online since 01 January 2027, connection on 12 July 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/extremeorient/3137; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/12kny

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About the author

Mary Picone

Mary Picone is a retired associate professor at EHESS (1990-2019) and a member of the China Korea Japan Research Center (UMR 8173, CCJ). She obtained her D.Phil in anthropology at University of Oxford in 1985. Her main research interest focuses on attitudes towards death and popular religion in Japan. Regularly invited to teach and research abroad (Princeton, Nichibunken, Kyoto university, Ochanomizu university), she also has an extensive experience of fieldwork in Japan. Among her publications related to the topic of this issue are “Marketing d’enfers: les représentations contemporaines d’Enma-ô et la gestion contemporaine de ses temples,” (in Makiko Andro-Ueda et Jean-Michel Butel [eds.], Japon pluriel, vol. 9, Paris, Picquier, 2014), “Haunted Sites: Where to Visit Ghosts According to Written or Filmed Collections of Personal Experiences” (in  Vincent Durand-Dastès and Marie Laureillard [eds.], Fantômes dans l’Extrême-Orient d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, t. 2, Paris, Presses de l’Inalco, 2017), and “Les feux follets des nuits hantées du Japon” (Art Asie-Sorbonne, no. 4 [“La nuit en Asie”], 2021).
Mary Picone est maîtresse de conférences retraitée de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS, 1990-2019) et membre du Centre Chine Corée Japon (UMR 8173, CCJ). Elle a obtenu sa thèse de doctorat (D.Phil) en anthropologie à l’université d’Oxford en 1985. Ses recherches portent principalement sur les attitudes face à la mort et la religion populaire au Japon. Régulièrement invitée à enseigner et à mener des recherches à l’étranger (Princeton, Nichibunken, université de Kyoto, université d’Ochanomizu), elle possède également une vaste expérience de terrain au Japon. Parmi ses publications liées au thème de ce numéro, on trouve « Marketing d’enfers : les représentations contemporaines d’Enma-ô et la gestion contemporaine de ses temples » (in Makiko Andro-Ueda et Jean-Michel Butel [dir.], Japon pluriel, vol. 9, Paris, Picquier, 2014), « Haunted Sites : Where to Visit Ghosts According to Written or Filmed Collections of Personal Experiences » (in V. Durand-Dastès and Marie Laureillard [dir.], Fantômes dans l’Extrême-Orient d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, t. 2 (Paris, Presses de l’Inalco, 2017) et « Les feux follets des nuits hantées du Japon » (Art Asie-Sorbonne, no 4 [« La nuit en Asie »], 2021).

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