Marketing the menacing fetus in Japan
By Helen Hardacre
This groundbreaking study examines a fascinating intersection of spirituality, culture, and gender in contemporary Japan through the lens of mizuko kuyo, a ritual practice for aborted fetuses that emerged in the 1970s. Helen Hardacre presents the first feminist analysis of how religious entrepreneurs across Buddhist, Shinto, and new religious movements successfully marketed this controversial ceremony to Japanese women.
Through extensive fieldwork across four regions of Japan, Hardacre reveals how religious groups used powerful imagery and narratives of fetal vengeance to create demand for ritual atonement. Women were told that aborted fetuses could cause spiritual attacks and misfortune, leading many to seek ceremonial reconciliation for procedures performed years or even decades earlier.
The author combines historical research with personal interviews and direct observation of ritual practices to uncover the complex dynamics at play. Her investigation reveals how spiritual practices can become commodified and marketed like any commercial product, while also exposing deeper currents of gender bias embedded within these religious expressions.
This scholarly yet accessible work offers valuable insights for anyone interested in understanding how religious movements adapt and spread, how spiritual practices intersect with social issues, and how gender dynamics shape religious experience. Hardacre's analysis provides a unique window into the commercialization of spirituality and the ways religious authority can be wielded to influence personal choices and beliefs.
What You'll Discover
- ✓ Explore Riten
- ✓ Explore Rites d'expiation fœtale
- ✓ Explore General
- ✓ Explore RELIGION
- ✓ Explore Abortion, religious aspects
- ✓ Explore Bouddhisme
- ✓ Explore Aspect religieux
- ✓ Explore Aspect psychologique
Topics
Details
- Published
- 1997
- Publisher
- University of California Press
- ISBN-10
- 0520205537
- Pages
- 310
- Language
- EN
- LC Classification
- BQ5030.F47 H37 1997
