YOMI

Yomi: translation

According tokokugakuinterpreters of theNihongiandKojikithe nether world and land of the dead, the source of evil and pollution. It is inhabited bymagatsuhi no kami, evil spirits and is the place to whichIzanamiwent after her death. It may originally have referred to the tombs or mortuary-huts built by prehistoric Japanese rulers. The notion that yomi is our final destination was canvassed byNorinaga, Motooribut his bleak description of yomi, however scripturally orthodox from akokugakupoint of view, holds little attraction for the deceased or their well-wishers remaining in this world and in practice few Japanese believe that the dead go to yomi. Most funerals (sosai) are conducted according to Buddhist rites and the dead become ancestral spirits, i.e.hotoke('buddhas').