() was a

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

method of

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...

performed in ancient Japan. The ritual is characterized by waist high burial in earth followed by lapidation (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 Buddhism and Shinto. Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or holy persons) of the eighth ...

'', hermetic practitioners of the

Shugendō is a syncretic Esoteric Buddhist 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 prim ...

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 agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

claims that a

stole a stone statue (''koma-inu'') and was subsequently executed through '. 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 period, Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries).Georges Appert, Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its heigh ...

Echigo Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen Province, Uzen, Iwashiro Province, Iwashiro, Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Shinano Province, Shinano, and Etchū Province, ...

also states that "rape, theft, and association with ''eta'' utcastes both men and women, are subject to ." 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 by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

rather than capital punishment. The ''yamabushi''-related sources contain some unique features of their own compared to other categories of 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 The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Japanese Paleolithic, Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the fi ...

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 should be viewed not as a method of execution, but rather

burial Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

. 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

Culture of Japan Capital punishment in Japan Execution methods Punishments in religion {{capital-punishment-stub