“Communalization of Tombs” in Uken Village, Amami Ōshima (Island), Kagoshima Prefecture: A Case of the Establishment of Taken “Shourouden”

This article discusses the process of establishing the communal tomb called “Shourouden” in Taken, Uken Village, Amami Ōshima, and shows the factors of enabling this process at an early stage. The rapid social changes and the population outflow after the reversion of Amami Islands to Japanese administration became a momentum for both the villagers and the migrant villagers to think about the possibility of increasing the care of neglected tombs and thus to realize the “communalization of tombs”. The establishment of “Tango Isshin Kai”, which celebrates various events for village children, was given as a precedent for “communalization” as a way of improving the existing situation in the village. The idea behind the establishment of “Shōrōden” came from the villagers who viewed the re-construction of the tomb as a way of “valuing ancestors”. Looking at the establishment of Shourouden from the viewpoint of material aspects, the donation of money and land from migrant villagers and the villagers' labor service could be given as contributing factors. From the above, it could be said that Taken people sought the communality or cooperativity in their tomb management in the form of “Shourouden” at the time of rapid social change and an uncertain future. Thus, the “Shourouden” became a pioneer case and model for other locations in Uken Village