Extended burial - Shintenso

A burial method in which the deceased is buried with their back and legs stretched out straight. It is also called an extended burial. However, the arms are not always stretched out, but are instead bent slightly and placed on the stomach, folded, or with hands together. In addition, compared to a flexed burial, which has a stronger meaning of containing the spirit of the dead, an extended burial tends to be based on the idea of ​​placing the deceased in an eternal sleeping position. This burial method appeared later than a flexed burial, during the Neolithic period.

The oldest confirmed extension burials in Japan appear in various places in the middle of the Early Jomon period, such as the Hegi Cave Site in Oita Prefecture and the Koyaba Shell Mound in Saitama Prefecture. In the middle of the Late Jomon period (Kasori B style period), extension burials became more prevalent than flexed burials in southern Kanto, but from then on, they coexisted with flexed burials and squatting burials until modern times.

[Kazuyoshi Otsuka]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

死者の背筋と両脚をまっすぐ伸ばした姿勢にして葬る葬法。伸葬ともいう。しかし、両腕は伸ばしたものだけでなく、軽く折り曲げて腹部に置いたもの、腕組みしたもの、合掌したものなど多様である。また、死霊を封じ込める意味合いの濃い屈葬と比べて、伸展葬は、死者を永遠の寝姿に安置するという考えに基づく傾向が強いといえよう。この葬法は屈葬よりも出現が遅れ、新石器時代になってからである。

　日本で最古の確実な伸展葬は、縄文前期中葉に各地で出現する。たとえば、大分県枌(へぎ)洞穴遺跡や埼玉県小谷場(こやば)貝塚などである。縄文後期中葉（加曽利(かそり)B式期）に南関東で伸展葬が屈葬より優勢となるが、これ以後、屈葬や蹲葬(そんそう)などと併存しながら近代に至る。

［大塚和義］

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