Tablets, Steles and Shrines: Chinese Intimations of the Butsudan

The article investigates the roots of the butsudan as a religious object serving a double purpose (for deities and ancestors) and its presence outside Japan. The butsudan’s association with ancestor tablets, the rituals performed for the spirits of the deceased and the custom of having a private image of the Buddha for personal worship, are all clues that point, albeit vaguely and intermittently, towards China (and Korea), and even India. The research is an attempt to plot a course on the Chinese clues of the butsudan.