The Meaning and History of Graves

My dear ladies, how do you do? 🌹 When you hear the word "grave," what image comes to mind? I imagine most of you picture a tall, shiny, beautiful stone with a name carved into it, like "○○." That particular form of "grave" is actually a rather recent cultural development. It's said that the culture of building graves to remember the deceased began to spread around the Edo period. While the concept of a grave existed before then, it was considered less about "remembering the deceased" and more about symbolizing "wealth and fame"... in other words, power. Think of the Egyptian pyramids or ancient burial mounds; they serve as symbols of power. It's a bit sad, but the practice of visiting graves is also fading in modern times. Perhaps the way we mourn the deceased is, in a sense, "evolving" (adapting to the environment).