A Same-Family Case of the Reincarnation Type in Japan

Abstract

Before the Second World War, the idea of reincarnation was a prevalent one in Japan and it was widely believed that a deceased person would often be reborn to the same family. Accordingly, there appear to have been many cases of the reincarnation type (CORT) within the same family. Although the concept of reincarnation is not generally considered to be based on empirical reality in contemporary Japan, same family CORT are sporadically found, and in this article I would like to report one case in which a man appears to have come back as a son of his half-sister. The notable features of the case are that (i) the cause of the death of the past-life personality was suicide, and that (ii) the child talked about what had happened to him after his death in his past-life in some detail, which potentially gives some information about what can happen after one commits suicide.