The Korean Buddhist death ritual (ch'ondoje) for the unborn dead, which is designed and performed solely for the sake of aborted or/and miscarried babies, has become popular in South Korea since the second half of the 1990s. Nevertheless, this phenomenon barely draws attention from Korean scholars, not to mention its empirical survey. Under the circumstances that this ritual is not only visited by women for the greatest part but also it deals with 'abortion' which is inseparable from female reproduction and sexuality, this phenomenon deserves to be investigated from a feminist point of view. Accordingly, this paper focused on the question what this ritual means for the female participants in practice. This paper consists of four parts in large: firstly, the historical development of this ritual was delineated; secondly, some characteristics of this Korean ritual were identified; thirdly, precedent study on the relation between Japanese ritual for aborted fetus, Mizuko Kuy? and Japanese women was critically reviewed; and lastly, the results of questionnaire surveys were presented which were conducted by this author at two Korean Buddhist temples, Gudsam-sa and Yongjang-sa.

The Korean Buddhist death ritual (ch'ondoje) for the unborn dead, which is designed and performed solely for the sake of aborted or/and miscarried babies, has become popular in South Korea since the second half of the 1990s. Nevertheless, this phenomenon barely draws attention from Korean scholars, not to mention its empirical survey. Under the circumstances that this ritual is not only visited by women for the greatest part but also it deals with 'abortion' which is inseparable from female reproduction and sexuality, this phenomenon deserves to be investigated from a feminist point of view. Accordingly, this paper focused on the question what this ritual means for the female participants in practice. This paper consists of four parts in large: firstly, the historical development of this ritual was delineated; secondly, some characteristics of this Korean ritual were identified; thirdly, precedent study on the relation between Japanese ritual for aborted fetus, Mizuko Kuy? and Japanese women was critically reviewed; and lastly, the results of questionnaire surveys were presented which were conducted by this author at two Korean Buddhist temples, Gudsam-sa and Yongjang-sa.

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ritual for the unborn dead, ritual for women, abortion, Mizuko Kuy?, threat from the spirit of aborted baby, sense of guilt, female reproduction, ritual of housewives, feminist study of death ritual