Ishikozume ( ja, 石子詰め) was a

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

method of

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

performed in ancient Japan. The ritual is characterized by waist high burial in earth followed by

lapidation Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times. The Torah and T ...

(death by stoning). It has traditionally been associated with the ''

yamabushi are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese Taoist elements. Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or h ...

'', hermetic practitioners of the

Shugendō is a highly syncretic religion, a body of ascetic practices that originated in the Nara Period of Japan having evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn from local f ...

religion, because they often used it when rules of their religion were violated. However, it has been observed in instances not involving the ''yamabushi'', and so its exact origins and nature has been debated by scholars. This execution method was used for crimes such as "adultery, rape, murder, theft, arson, blasphemy (killing a sacred deer), association with outcastes, aintainingunregistered rice fields, ndtreason."

Sources

There exist a variety of sources and traditions which relate the practice. One from Asuka Shrine in

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

claims that a

stole a

stone statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

(''koma-inu'') and was subsequently executed through ''ishikozume''. A clan tradition connected to the

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...

of Echigo Province also states that "rape, theft, and association with ''eta'' utcastes both men and women, are subject to ''ishikozume''." These sources can be find in a variety of geographical districts, and can be found in shrine, clans, and temple traditions. In rare instances, there will be records of a local variation on the ritual which does not result in death, that is, they are used as

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

rather than capital punishment. The ''yamabushi''-related sources contain some unique features of their own compared to other categories of ''ishikozume'' sources. In the ''yamabushi'' ones, the executions are almost always done as public spectacles for which locals are expected to be onlookers. The local ''yamabushi'' would put on ritual robes, meet and specified times, and read relevant scriptures beforehand. Finally, the leading priests would carry out the executions.

Historical research

In 1966, the scholar H. Byron Earhart presented competing claims about the issue. He pointed out that archaeological digs of prehistoric Japan has indicated that stones were often found near burial sites. Earhart referred to a Japanese scholar named Ainosuke Fujiwara, who, as early as 1943, went as far as to say that ''ishikozume'' should be viewed not as a method of execution, but rather burial. In the end, however, Earhart wrote that the practice's true meaning and nature can never be known for sure, but that he himself speculated that it served both as a means of execution as well as a means of burial, in light of the practice's Buddhist influence and undertones.

References

Japanese culture Capital punishment Execution methods Punishments in religion {{Death-stub