Sky burial - Fuso

A burial method in which the body is left exposed to the elements without being buried. It is also called exposed burial or sky burial. Depending on the way the body is placed, it can be classified as tree burial, platform burial, cave burial, etc. These burial methods are seen in many regions, including North Asia, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, Australia, and North and South America. Tree burial, also called treetop burial, is a burial method in which the body is placed on the top or fork of a tree, platform burial is a burial method in which the body is placed on a platform and left to weather, and cave burial is a burial method in which the body is placed inside a cave.

It is known that sky burials were widespread in Okinawa and other southern islands of Japan. There are two types of sky burials in this area. One involves leaving the body in a natural cave or a cemetery forest and leaving it to weather, without holding a memorial service or creating a Buddhist altar or memorial tablet. The other involves first exposing the body to the air for a certain period of time to weather, then collecting the remains again and washing them with water from a well used in the deceased's birth bath or awamori sake, before burying the remains in a grave. As an example of sky burials alone, it is said that on Amami Oshima the dead were buried in a forest called Gushoyama until recently. On Miyakojima, stones are piled up in a field, the coffin is placed inside, and grass or straw mats are placed on top of it. In the remote islands of the Miyako Archipelago, such as Ikema, Irabu, and Kurima, many communal cemeteries were built where the coffin was placed in a field, covered with stones and grass, and left to weather. On Ishigaki Island, there are records of a cemetery called a Nuya being built around 1907 (Meiji 40), in which the coffin was placed in a rectangular stone enclosure, covered with straw mats, held down lengthwise and widthwise with bamboo poles, and a stone placed on top. Sky burials were also seen on Kudaka Island, an island off the main island of Okinawa, until around the Taisho era, where the coffin was placed in the shade of a waterside jungle. On Okinoerabu Island, the coffin was placed in a hut called a Moya, and parents, children, and siblings would go to the Moya many times to open the coffin and see the face of the deceased. On Tsuken Island, up until the Meiji period, there was a custom of wrapping the body in a straw mat and leaving it in a thicket called Goshoyama, where family, relatives, and friends would visit the deceased every day to see their face. These sky burials are thought to be related to another type of sky burial in the Okinawa region, namely, sky burials that also involve washing the bones. In other words, although it is a single burial form that does not involve washing the bones or reburial, it is thought to have actually been the first stage of multiple burials, or a form used in areas of the southern islands, particularly those far from the cultural centers.

[Jun Shimizu]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

死体を埋葬せずにさらす葬法。曝葬(ばくそう)、空葬という言い方もある。死体を置く方法によって、樹葬、台上葬、洞窟葬(どうくつそう)などの区別ができる。これらの葬法は北アジア、東南アジア、メラネシア、オーストラリア、南北アメリカなど多くの地域でみられる。樹葬は、樹上葬ともいい、死体を木の頂やまたのところに置く葬法で、台上葬は死体を台架の上に置いて風化させる葬法、洞窟葬は洞窟の中に死体を納める葬法である。

　日本では、沖縄をはじめ南島諸地域には風葬が広がっていたことが知られている。この地域の風葬には2種類あって、このうちの一つは、天然の洞窟や墓地の叢林(そうりん)などの中になきがらを置いて風化するに任せ、法事をしたり、仏壇や位牌(いはい)をつくるといったようなことをしないやり方である。もう一つは、まず死体を一定期間大気にさらして風化させ、そのあと改めて遺骨だけを集めて、故人が産湯を使った井戸の水とか泡盛(あわもり)酒などで洗骨を行い、その遺骨を墓に葬るという複葬の形式をとるものである。風葬のみの場合の例をあげると、奄美(あまみ)大島では最近まで死者をグショヤマという叢地に風葬していたという。宮古島では、畑の中に石を築き上げてその中に棺を入れ、その上には草や茣蓙(ござ)などをかける。宮古列島の離島である池間(いけま)島、伊良部(いらぶ)島、来間(くりま)島の諸島でも、畑の中に棺を置いて石や草をかぶせ、風化するのに任せる共同墓地が多かった。石垣島では、1907年（明治40）ごろ、長方形の石垣の囲いの中に棺を納めて蓆(むしろ)をかぶせ、竹竿(たけざお)で縦横を押さえて上に石を置くヌーヤとよばれる墓地がつくられていた記録がある。風葬はまた、沖縄本島の離島である久高(くだか)島でも大正ごろまでみられ、水辺の叢林の陰に棺を置いていた。沖永良部(おきのえらぶ)島では、モヤという小屋の中に棺を置き、親子兄弟はモヤに行っては何度も棺を開いて死者の顔を見る風習があった。津堅(つけん)島でも明治時代まで、後生山という藪(やぶ)の中に遺骸(いがい)を蓆に包んでほうっておく風習があって、家族や親戚(しんせき)、友人が毎日死者を訪れて顔をのぞいたという。これらの風葬は、沖縄地方のもう一つの風葬、すなわち洗骨を伴う風葬と無関係ではないと考えられる。つまり、洗骨と改葬を伴わない単葬形式ではあるが、実は複葬形式の第一段階、あるいは、南島諸地域のなかでもとくに文化的中心地から離れた地域における一形式であったろうと考えられるのである。

［清水　純］

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