The Seat of the Spirit in Tombs : Rituals in Burial Chambers from the Han to the Northern and the Southern Dynasties

In this paper, I consider the seat of the spirit (神坐) in tombs and the idea reflected in them through an examination of archaeological findings and written materials from the Han to the Tang period in China. The seat of the spirit found in tombs first emerged during the Western Han period with the change in tomb structure from tombs with wooden caskets to brick or stone-chamber tombs. The new burial style that emerged at that time was based on the conception that the spirit of the dead would either continue to live in the tomb or that the spirit would travel to the nether world and return to this world through the tomb. The seat of the spirit in tombs was the place where the spirit of the dead resided, and it was the site where participants in the funeral performed rituals for the tomb's occupant. In the Wei and the Jin period, the lavish burials of the Han period fell out of favor, and with the spread of plain burials, construction of a shrine beside the tomb was prohibited and tomb structure and mortuary goods were simplified. In plain burials, the seat of spirit, thought to be a prerequisite for tombs, and the custom of performing a ritual for the tomb occupant were continued. At that time, there were opposing ideas about the seat of the spirit in tombs; the interpretation in the Confucian classics was alienated from the sensibilities of the general public. According to the Confucian classical rules, the spirit of the dead should be worshiped at a mausoleum, so the seat of spirit in a tomb was considered a provisional feature. On the other hand, many people at that time thought that the seat of the spirit was the place where the tomb occupant would reside, so they practiced rituals for dead ancestors at tombs. In Northern China after the latter half of the fifth century, most of the populace in the Northern Wei came to think that the spirit of the dead resided in the burial chamber and practiced rituals at the front of the coffin (corpse) in the burial chamber because the spirit and body were inseparably linked to one another. This was probably because the people of the Northern Tribes could not grasp how the seat of the spirit could be separated from the coffin (corpse) in tomb. According to the distinction of traditional Chinese ritual, however, the burial rituals for the body of the dead as an inauspicious ritual should not be mixed with the auspicious ritual for the spirit. In the latter half of the Northern Dynasties, this problem was resolved, and the seat of the spirit was made independent of the location of the coffin (corpse) that was set on funerary furnishings, and this new burial custom was carried on to tombs of the Sui and the Tang dynasties